The package imposes trade, financial and technological sanctions on Iran and prevents Tehran from using Ukrainian airspace.
Ukraine’s parliament has approved a sanctions package against Iran, a Russian ally it accuses of sending arms to Moscow during its more than year-long invasion of Ukraine.
The measures were approved on Monday, a day after Ukraine said Russia used an Iranian-made Shahed drone to launch the largest such attack on the capital Kiev since the invasion began.
“The resolution synchronizes the sanctions against Ukraine with the actions of the entire civilized world on the path to the complete isolation of Iran,” the Ukrainian parliament said on its website.
The new rules include a ban on the export of “military and dual-use items” to Iran, and a “suspension of economic and financial obligations in favor of Iranian residents.”
The package would also prevent Iranian goods from transiting through Ukraine and aircraft flying over Ukrainian airspace, and impose trade, financial and technological sanctions on Iran and its citizens.
The legislation still needs to be signed into law by President Volodymyr Zelensky, which is a formality because the Ukrainian leader himself submitted the bill.
Zelensky appealed directly to Iranians last week, asking: “Why do you want to be complicit in Russian terror?”
Tehran hit back, calling Zelensky’s remarks a worthless “political show”.
“The Ukrainian president’s repeated empty claims against the Islamic Republic of Iran are meant to be coordinated with the anti-Iran media war with the aim of obtaining more weapons and financial aid from Western countries,” foreign ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani said on Saturday.
In November, the Iranian government confirmed for the first time that it had sold drones to Russia, but said it was “a few months” before war in Ukraine broke out in February 2022.
Ukraine said on Sunday that Moscow used 54 Iranian-made drones overnight to launch its largest drone attack on Ukraine to date. 52 of them are said to have been shot down.
