Poland admits limited impact on Iran amid new sanctions

Poland’s foreign minister conceded Thursday that there were limits on how to influence Iran, already under heavy sanctions, after Tehran allegedly shipped short-range missiles to Russia to attack Ukraine.

Western powers this week imposed new sanctions targeting Iran’s aviation sector, including state carrier Iran Air, and Ukraine warned it may cut off relations with Tehran.

“The trouble for Poland is that Iran is already under such severe sanctions that there is not that much more that we can do,” Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski said when asked if Poland, a staunch backer of Ukraine, would also sever ties.

He was speaking at a joint news conference with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who on Tuesday said that Russia could start firing Iranian missiles into Ukraine within weeks.

Western powers had warned Iran against the move, and Sikorski noted that it came shortly after Iranians elected President Masoud Pezeshkian, seen as a reformist within the cleric-run state.

“I’m disappointed, because we have a new president of Iran. He’s supposedly not as aggressive as the previous butcher of Tehran. But the policy of sending missiles and drones to use against Ukraine and also using similar equipment against Israel seems to be continuing,” Sikorski said.

Poland enjoys a long history with Iran, which took in thousands of Polish civilians during World War II.

But as a close U.S. ally, it has joined pressure campaigns against Iran, including agreeing to host a 2019 conference encouraged by then president Donald Trump that pressured Tehran.