France, Germany and UK condemn export of Iranian ballistic missiles to Russia – as it happened

• The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, said Russia has now received shipments of ballistic missiles from Iran and “will likely use them within weeks in Ukraine against Ukrainians”.

• France, Germany and the United Kingdom condemned the export of Iranian ballistic missiles to Russia in a joint statement. “This act is an escalation by both Iran and Russia, and is a direct threat to European security,” they wrote.

• The three countries also said “we will be taking immediate steps to cancel bilateral air services agreements with Iran” and “will pursue the designations of significant entities and individuals involved with Iran’s ballistic missile programme.”

• The UK added 7 designations under the Iran sanctions regime and 3 designations under the Russia sanctions regime.

• Sergei Shoigu, the secretary of Russia’s security council, said that Moscow is completing steps in order to sign a new treaty with Iran soon

• Andriy Yermak, head of the Ukrainian president’s office, said sanctions against Iran are a positive step but reiterated a call for authorising the use of western weapons against military targets on Russian territory.

• Ukraine has carried out one its biggest drone attacks on Russia since the beginning of the war, killing a woman in the Moscow region and forcing the closure of airports around the capital.

• After Germany announced a plan to impose tighter controls at all its land borders, Poland’s prime minister, Donald Tusk, said the decision is unacceptable for his country.

The UK has “added 7 new designations under the Iran sanctions regime and 3 new designations under the Russia sanctions regime”, according to new guidance published today.

It has also “added 5 new ship specifications under the Russia sanctions regime”.

France, Germany and the United Kingdom have issued a joint statement.

The three countries condemned the export of Iranian ballistic missiles to Russia and said they will be taking immediate steps to cancel bilateral air services agreements with Iran. They also said they will pursue the designations of significant entities and individuals and will work towards imposing sanctions on Iran Air.

The governments of France, Germany, and the United Kingdom strongly condemn Iran’s export and Russia’s procurement of Iranian ballistic missiles. This is a further escalation of Iran’s military support to Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine and will see Iranian missiles reaching European soil, increasing the suffering of the Ukrainian people. This act is an escalation by both Iran and Russia, and is a direct threat to European security.

The E3 has privately and publicly been clear that we would take new and significant measures against Iran if the transfers took place. We now have confirmation that Iran has made these transfers. We will be taking immediate steps to cancel bilateral air services agreements with Iran. In addition, we will pursue the designations of significant entities and individuals involved with Iran’s ballistic missile programme and the transfer of ballistic missiles and other weapons to Russia. We will also work towards imposing sanctions on Iran Air.

The E3 are closely coordinating our strong response to these transfers with our European and international partners. We call on Iran to immediately cease all support to Russia’s war against Ukraine and halt the development and transfers of its ballistic missiles.

Dan Sabbagh

Russia’s military lost more than 1,100 killed or wounded a day during July and August as it attacked Ukraine, British defence secretary John Healey told the UK’s House of Commons, and its forces are around 8km from the communications hub of Pokrovsk.

“Eastern Ukraine continues to be Russia’s main focus,” the minister said, though he praised Ukraine’s surprise counter attack into the Russian Kursk province last month, which helped “expose the vulnerabilities of [Vladmir] Putin’s frontline forces” and put the Russian president under pressure.

The minister said that “around 900 sq km of territory is now held by Ukrainian forces in the Kursk region” – a figure that is lower than the 1,300 square kilometres claimed by Ukraine’s top military commander Gen. Oleksandr Syrskyi at the end of last month.

Healey also warned that the UK was facing “a decade of growing Russian aggression” both in and beyond Ukraine, reporting that front line Nato states are “reporting Russian drones violating their airspace” and repeating warnings of Kremlin cyber and sabotage campaigns across Europe.

Britain, the minister told the UK parliament, remained committed to continuing training Ukrainian soldiers in the UK to at least 2025 and lifting defence spending to 2.5% of GDP in the medium term.

But he would not comment if the UK would be willing to spend more on Ukraine if Donald Trump were to win the US presidential election. Concerns remain that Trump, if elected, would cut or even halt US military aid on which Kyiv has relied to sustain its war effort.

Russia has now received shipments of ballistic missiles from Iran and “will likely use them within weeks in Ukraine against Ukrainians,” the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, said today.

The secretary of state said that Washington has warned Tehran both publicly and privately that providing ballistic missiles would “constitute a dramatic escalation.”

“This development and the growing cooperation between Russia and Iran threatens European security and demonstrates how Iran’s destabilising influence reaches far beyond the Middle East,” he said.

Blinken also said the US will announce new sanctions on Iran.

The British foreign secretary, David Lammy, called the supply of ballistic missiles from Iran to Russia a “significant escalation”.