Iran Targeted by New Zealand Sanctions for 'Military Support' to Moscow

The New Zealand government announced that it will impose sanctions on 28 individuals and 14 entities, including some from Iran, due to their 'military support' for Moscow in the war against Ukraine. Winston Peters, New Zealand's Foreign Minister, stated on Thursday, May 17, that 'New Zealand condemns all individuals and entities that provide this military support.' The new sanctions target those involved in transferring military weapons from North Korea to Russia and providing 'military assistance' to this country from Iran. Following Russia's military invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Moscow became subject to the world's most severe punitive sanctions regime. As a result of the limitations imposed by this sanctions regime, Moscow turned to its two allies, North Korea and the Islamic Republic, for arms supplies. Over the past two years, Tehran initially denied any arms sales, including drones, to Russia and later emphasized through diplomatic language that it had not provided its weapons for use in the Ukraine war. However, the Ukrainian government and military have repeatedly published documents and evidence of the use of Iranian drones, including the Shahed drones, against their forces in the country. This is not the first time the Islamic Republic has faced punitive sanctions from the West due to its support for the Kremlin. Earlier this month, the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom imposed further sanctions on Iran targeting the sale of drones and Iranian goods, including Russia's use of Iranian drones in the Ukraine war. Tehran is accused of delivering hundreds of Shahed 136 drones to Russia for its war in Ukraine and is also under suspicion of recently offering to sell a new long-range explosive drone from the Shahed 107 series to Russia.