US says Iran may be ‘contributing’ to war crimes in Ukraine

Iran’s sale of lethal drones to Russia for use in its ongoing invasion of Ukraine means the country may be “contributing to widespread war crimes”, US President Joe Biden’s administration said.

National security adviser Jake Sullivan levelled the charge against Iran on Monday as he spoke to reporters accompanying Mr Biden on a trip to Mexico.

While it did not signal a policy shift, the charge marks some of the sharpest US rhetoric against Iran since it began providing weapons to Russia to support its nearly year-long war in Ukraine.

It comes as the US and European partners are looking to further ostracise both nations in the court of public opinion, as they face challenges with physically stopping the transfers of weapons on which Russia is increasingly reliant.

Mr Sullivan said Iran has chosen “to go down a road where their weapons are being used to kill civilians in Ukraine and to try to plunge cities into cold and darkness, which from our point of view puts Iran in a place where it could potentially be contributing to widespread war crimes”.

Mr Sullivan pointed to European and US sanctions on Iran, put in place after the US exposed Iran’s weapons sales to Russia last year, as examples of how they are trying to “make these transactions more difficult”.

But he admitted “the way that they are actually carrying them out physically makes physical interdiction a challenge”.