Iran asks Ukraine to offer evidence of use of Iranian drones in war

The recent events in Ukraine, as well as some Ukrainian officials' allegations that Iran gave drones to Russia many years ago, and Moscow's employment of unmanned aircraft in the fight, were all brought up by the Iranian foreign minister, FNA reported.

The comments were made by Amir Abdollahian to Gordan Grlic-Radman, the foreign and European affairs minister of Croatia, over the phone.

“We have always been and still are strongly opposed to war and to the arming of any warring side and we have told the Ukrainian officials to show any evidence they have that would prove the use of Iranian drones in the Ukraine war,” Amir Abdollahian said.

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The top diplomat emphasised that although Iran and Russia have long-standing defence ties, Tehran neither endorsed nor provided Russia with any weapons developed in Iran for use in the conflict in Ukraine.

Tehran has consistently dismissed as unfounded accusations that it has sent drones to Russia for use in the continuing conflict with Ukraine. Iranian officials cautioned that arming Moscow or Kyiv would only serve to prolong the confrontation between the two neighbours and repeated that Tehran will not support either side in the Russia-Ukraine issue.

The Council of the Ministers of the European Union's "wrong move" against Tehran, which was taken "based on a set of false information," was also mentioned by the foreign minister of Iran.

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Iran is mulling a suitable retaliation in kind to the EU decision, according to Amir Abdollahian.

Iranian officials empathisedfor not taking sides in the brutal conflict and refraining from doing any actions that would cause the crisis to worsen. They reaffirmed their aversion to violence between the two nations and emphasised Iran's impartial stance on the issue.

(with inputs from agencies)