White House: Our preferred option for Iran is still diplomacy

John Kirby, the strategic communications coordinator of the American National Security Council, announced on Thursday local time in an interview with the American CNN news channel that Biden’s “preferred option” for Iran is still diplomacy. At the same time, he claimed that America “will not take any option off the table”.

In this interview, Kirby also claimed: Russia’s visit to Iran to receive drones is due to the pressure of sanctions.

The strategic communications coordinator of the American National Security Council claimed: Russia’s attempt to provide drones from Iran conveys a great message about the isolation of both countries in the international community and the problems of Russian President Vladimir Putin in meeting his defense needs.

He claimed: Russia’s turning to Iran shows the degree of isolation of both countries in the world community due to their actions in different regions.

This White House official continued: We know that sanctions are putting pressure. We know that export controls are pressing. We know that Putin’s ability to replace munitions and now acquire drones is limited by world pressure.

At the same time, this White House official acknowledged the ability of Iran’s domestic production and said: “It is clear that Iran has the ability to produce domestically.” I do not know the details of the agreement that Putin has signed with Iran, and I cannot speak specifically about the extent to which Iran can meet this Russian need.

White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, speaking to reporters in the White House on the eve of US President Joe Biden’s visit to West Asia on Monday evening local time, claimed that according to US information, Iran is introducing China to send drones. to Russia for their use in Ukraine.

He claimed that Tehran is providing training for Russians to work with these drones.

The American national security advisor also claimed that it is not clear whether Iran has provided these drones to Russia or not.

He claimed: “Our information shows that the Iranian government is on an accelerated schedule to send several hundred drones, including drones capable of carrying weapons, to Russia.”

In his claims, Sullivan added that sending these weapons from Iran to Russia shows that Russia’s intense bombings in Ukraine, which have led to gains in eastern Ukraine in recent weeks, have ended at the cost of supplying weapons to this country.

He claimed that Iran has provided similar drones to Yemen’s Houthis (Ansarullah) and before the ceasefire was established at the beginning of this year, Ansarullah was supposed to attack Saudi Arabia using these drones.

According to IRNA, John Kirby, the strategic communications coordinator of the National Security Council of the White House, also spoke to CNN on Tuesday local time about the new claim of the United States regarding the provision of Iranian drones to Russia and its impact on the sanctions relief negotiations. I don’t know if the provision of drones by Iran to Russia will necessarily affect our efforts to sign a nuclear agreement with Iran, but this action will definitely affect our support for Ukraine.

He added: We have to see how the Russians will proceed with the Iranians and what type and number of drones they will receive from Iran and how they will use them. So we are following this closely.

Meanwhile, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Wednesday that Russian President Vladimir Putin will not discuss the purchase of drones during his visit to Iran on July 19.

According to IRNA’s Sputnik report, Peskov said “No” in response to reporters’ questions on Wednesday whether this issue (the purchase of drones) will be discussed during Putin’s visit to Tehran.

Nasser Kanani, the spokesman of the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in response to the journalists’ question regarding the statements of the American National Security Advisor regarding the sale of modern Iranian technologies to Russia, clarified: the history of cooperation between the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Russian Federation in the field of some modern technologies dates back to before the war in Ukraine is coming back and there has been no special development in this relationship recently.

The spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs added: The position of the Islamic Republic of Iran regarding the war in Ukraine is quite clear and has been officially announced many times.

Kanaani further added: The American official’s claim is that the US and the Europeans have for years turned the occupying and aggressor countries, including in the West Asian region, into a warehouse of their various deadly weapons, without these weapons, the continuation of more than seven decades of aggression. The crime and occupation of the Zionists in the occupied territories was not possible.