G7 FMs Condemn Iran's Export of Ballistic Missiles to Russia

An Iranian woman crosses the street near a new anti-Israel billboard carrying a picture of Iranian drones.  EPA/ABEDIN TAHERKENAREH
An Iranian woman crosses the street near a new anti-Israel billboard carrying a picture of Iranian drones. EPA/ABEDIN TAHERKENAREH
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G7 FMs Condemn Iran's Export of Ballistic Missiles to Russia

An Iranian woman crosses the street near a new anti-Israel billboard carrying a picture of Iranian drones.  EPA/ABEDIN TAHERKENAREH
An Iranian woman crosses the street near a new anti-Israel billboard carrying a picture of Iranian drones. EPA/ABEDIN TAHERKENAREH

The foreign ministers of the Group of the Seven have condemned on Saturday "in the strongest terms" Iran's export and Russia's procurement of Iranian ballistic missiles.

"Iran must immediately cease all support to Russia's illegal and unjustifiable war against Ukraine and halt such transfers of ballistic missiles, UAVs and related technology, which constitute a direct threat to the Ukrainian people as well as European and international security more broadly," the G7 ministers said in a statement.

G7 groups Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Great Britain and the US.

Iran's foreign minister said that Tehran was open to diplomacy to solve disputes but not "threats and pressure,” state media reported on Saturday, after the US and three European powers imposed sanctions against the country's aviation sector.
Abbas Araqchi's comments come a day after The European Union's chief diplomat said the bloc is considering new sanctions targeting Iran's aviation sector, in reaction to reports Tehran supplied Russia with ballistic missiles in its war against Ukraine.
Araqchi said on Wednesday that Tehran had not delivered any ballistic missiles to Russia and sanctions imposed on Iran by the United States and three European powers would not solve any problems between them.

The United States, Germany, Britain and France on Tuesday imposed new sanctions on Iran, including measures against its national airline Iran Air.



Medvedev Threatens to Turn Kyiv Into 'Giant Melted Spot'

Senior Russian security official and former president Dmitry Medvedev. EPA
Senior Russian security official and former president Dmitry Medvedev. EPA
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Medvedev Threatens to Turn Kyiv Into 'Giant Melted Spot'

Senior Russian security official and former president Dmitry Medvedev. EPA
Senior Russian security official and former president Dmitry Medvedev. EPA

Senior Russian security official and former president Dmitry Medvedev said on Saturday Russia could destroy Ukraine's capital Kyiv with non-nuclear weapons in response to the use of Western long-range missiles by Ukraine.

Medvedev said Moscow already had formal grounds to use nuclear weapons since Ukraine's incursion into Russia's Kursk region, but could instead use some of its new weapon technologies to reduce Kyiv to "a giant melted spot" when its patience runs out.

"Holy shit! It's impossible, but it happened," he wrote in English on the Telegram messaging app.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said late on Friday that his plan to achieve victory depended on Washington's decision, a clear reference to the authorization for long-range strikes that Kyiv has long sought from NATO allies.

Andriy Yermak, head of Zelenskiy's office, said on the Telegram messaging app on Saturday: "Strong decisions are needed. Terror can be stopped by destroying the military facilities where it originates."

Kyiv has said such strikes are critical for its efforts to restrict Moscow's ability to attack Ukraine, but allies have so far been reluctant to permit them, citing fears Moscow will treat them as an escalation and doubting their efficiency.