Iran summons heads of four European embassies, news agency says

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DUBAI (Reuters) – Iran’s foreign ministry summoned the heads of the British, French, German and Dutch embassies on Thursday, the Iranian judiciary’s Mizan news agency reported, following accusations of missile transfers to Russia and the imposition of new sanctions.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Tuesday that Russia had received ballistic missiles from Iran and would likely use them in its war in Ukraine within weeks.

The U.S., Britain, Germany and France also announced new sanctions on Iran, including measures against its national airline Iran Air.

The Kremlin said after Blinken’s statement that the assertions were baseless. Iran said the statements on missile transfers to Russia were “false and misleading” and condemned the new sanctions, which also include the cancellation of bilateral air services agreements by the three European states.

“Following the continuation of non-constructive statements by some European parties aligned with the United States falsely claiming [Iranian] interference in the Ukraine conflict and imposing sanctions on the Islamic Republic, the embassy heads of Britain, France, the Netherlands and Germany have been summoned in Tehran,” Mizan said.

Iran’s most senior diplomat in London was summoned by Britain’s foreign ministry on Wednesday. Iran’s ambassador to the Netherlands was summoned by the Dutch foreign ministry which called for “new, robust EU sanctions” against Tehran.

(Reporting by Dubai Newsroom; Editing by Andrew Cawthorne and Timothy Heritage)