Russia May Receive Surface-to-Surface Missiles From Iran, US Says

National Security Council Spokesman John Kirby confirms the Treasury Departments imposing sanctions against a weapons trafficking network affiliated with the Islamic State group in Somalia and the al-Qaida-linked al-Shabab extremist group

The move to freeze and block any potential transactions with U.S. entities comes after two car bombings at a busy junction in Somalia's capital on Saturday killed more than 120 people.

Al-Shabab, which often targets the capital, Mogadishu, and controls large parts of the country, claimed responsibility for the Saturday attack, saying its objective was to hit the education ministry.

These are the first sanctions on Somalia's Islamic State group network from Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control.

The State Department designated IS-Somalia in 2018 as “Specially Designated Global Terrorists.”

On Oct. 17, the U.S. imposed financial penalties on more than a dozen people from Somalia and Yemen who it said were involved in al-Shabab’s financing operations, which use those funds to help in weapons procurement and recruitment activities.

Violent acts have increased in recent months. Islamic extremist fighters early this month targeted a Somali government headquarters in the Hiran region, leaving at least 20 people dead and 36 wounded in a town at the center of a recent mobilization against the extremists.

Saturday's bombing in Mogadishu injured more than 320 people, and many were still missing.

Kirby also spoke to reporters about Iran supplying weapons to Russia to use in their war with Ukraine.

"The Iranians are involved the regime is involved in killing innocent Ukrainians," said Kirby.

"We can get wrapped up in the trainers and the numbers and the and the timeline of the of this of the systems. And I'm not saying that's not important, it all is, we wouldn't be talking about it publicly if it wasn't. But let's not forget, at its core, this is a regime in Tehran that is openly and willingly making themselves an accomplice to the murder of innocent Ukrainian people, on Ukrainian soil."

The Iranian government has denied providing Moscow with the drones, but American officials say it has been doing so since August.

Kirby also told reporters last month that Iran has sent a "relatively small number" of personnel to Crimea, a part of Ukraine unilaterally annexed by Russia in contravention of international law in 2014, to assist Russian troops in launching Iranian-made drones against Ukraine.

Members of a branch of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps were dispatched to assist Russian forces in using the drones, according to the British government.

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[Jagannathan-owcl]

You people supply everything to Ukraine but others not! What is this logic?

[znrctrnn]

It’s fair to say that if Iranian ballistic missiles hit Kyiv, Tehran and Moscow lose.