Western European countries said scaling back diplomatic ties with Iran over Ukraine

Several Western European countries have recently reduced their diplomatic contacts with Tehran to an absolute minimum in response to Iranian involvement in the war in Ukraine, the Kan public broadcaster reported Tuesday.

Citing unnamed sources the report said diplomatic ties and meetings between officials from those European countries and their Iranian counterparts have dwindled almost to zero in the wake of Iran supplying Russia with weapons being used to attack Ukraine.

The report did not specify which countries have scaled back their activities, saying only it includes some of Western Europe’s largest and most significant.

On Monday the European Union introduced new sanctions on 20 Iranian officials over the brutal crackdown on anti-regime protesters in Iran, and also on experts they believe are linked to supplying Russia with explosive drones.

Ministers hit out at Iran for supplying drones to Russia, saying the “weapons provided by Iran are being used indiscriminately by Russia against Ukrainian civilian population and infrastructure causing horrendous destruction and human suffering.”

The ministers imposed bans on traveling to Europe and froze the assets of 20 individuals. They also froze the assets of Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting, saying the media outlet was a “mouthpiece” for “the violent response to the recent demonstrations in Iran.”

Iranian women — and some men — have protested the government’s severe restrictions on their daily life since late September after the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, who was arrested for allegedly violating the Islamic Republic’s strict dress code.

Earlier Monday, Iran executed a second person who was convicted of crimes in the nationwide protests.

Russia stands accused of sending waves of Iranian-made drones over Ukraine to strike at power plants and other key infrastructure. The EU has said it had evidence that Iran sold drones to Russia since the war’s beginning in February.

Last month, the EU imposed sanctions on the chief of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, the guard corp’s Aerospace Force, and a company making drones that the bloc alleged Russia has used in Ukraine.

The EU has also attempted to mediate talks to revive the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and world powers that unraveled after the US pulled out in 2018. Iran responded by increasingly dropping its own commitments to the so-called Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. Several months of talks failed to reach an agreement that would bring the US back into the JCPOA while Iran rolls back its advances in nuclear activity that have raised concerns it is close to the threshold to producing nuclear weapons.

The original JCPOA offered Iran sanctions relief in return for curbs on its nuclear program intended to prevent it from obtaining a weapon.