Ukraine slaps 50-year sanctions on Iran after Russia’s Kyiv attack allegedly used Iranian drones

The Ukrainian parliament has voted in favour of 50 years of sectoral and economic sanctions on Iran, which it accuses of supplying drones and arms to Russia that have been used in Ukraine.

Lawmaker Yaroslav Zhelezniak said in a Telegram posting that 328 deputies in the 450-member Verkhovna Rada, the Ukrainian parliament, voted in favour of the sanctions package against Iran on 29 May.

The lawmakers acted a day after Ukraine accused Russia of using Iranian-made Shahed drones in an attack on Kyiv, the largest of its kind since the Russian invasion in February last year, and after President Volodymyr Zelensky asked parliament to approve a draft resolution on the sanctions.

According to a statement on the parliament’s website, lawmakers ‘approved the decision of the National Security and Defence Council on the application of sectoral special economic and other restrictive measures (sanctions) to the Islamic Republic of Iran for a period of 50 years.’

‘The draft resolution proposed a comprehensive ban on all trade activities with Iran, including investments and technology transfers. It also aimed to halt the transit of Iranian products through Ukrainian territory and prohibit the withdrawal of Iranian assets held in Ukraine,’ the Kyiv Independent daily reported.

Iran, which has close and apparently growing ties with Moscow, has confirmed supplying drones to Russia, but has maintained they have not been used in Ukraine.

The United States and European Union have both imposed wide sanctions on Iran targeting drone makers in the country and parts suppliers overseas.