By KYIV. Dec 14 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Senior Israeli officials have said Iran is seeking to limit the range of missiles it plans to supply to Russia, according to a December 12 report by analysts at the Institute for the Study of War (ISW).
"Iran fears international backlash from providing Russia with long range missiles to use in the war in Ukraine and noted that United Nations (UN) Security Council Resolution 2231 passed in 2015 prevents the transfer or receipt of Iranian ballistic missiles with a range over 300 kilometers and a payload over 500 kilograms until October 2023," the institute said.
According to the report, violating this resolution could result a "snapback" mechanism that reimposes UN sanctions against Iran.
ISW, citing Ukrainian intelligence data, said Russian invaders are striking Ukraine with missiles that Ukraine transferred to russia in the 1990s under an international agreement that Russia clearly violated by invading Ukraine in 2014 and 2022.
"Russian forces are using ballistic missiles and Tu-160 and Tu-95 strategic bombers that Ukraine transferred to Russia as part of the Budapest Memorandum, whereby Ukraine transferred its nuclear arsenal to Russia for decommissioning. Russia, the United States, and the United Kingdom committed in return to "respect the independence and sovereignty and existing borders of Ukraine." This agreement has generated some debate about whether or not it committed the United States and the United Kingdom to defend Ukraine, which it did not do. There can be no debate, however, that by this agreement Russia explicitly recognized that Crimea and areas of Donetsk and Luhansk Oblasts it occupied in 2014 were parts of Ukraine," according to the report.
"By that agreement Russia also committed ‘to refrain from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of Ukraine,’ among many other provisions that Russia has violated. Skibitsky noted that Russia has removed the nuclear warhead from these decommissioned Kh-55 subsonic cruise missiles, which are now being used to launch massive missile strikes on Ukraine," the ISW said.
