WASHINGTON – The Biden administration says Iran could give Russia armed drones as Russian President Vladimir Putin met with Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday.
Olena Zelenska, the first lady of Ukraine, also met with President Joe Biden at the White House.
President Biden joined the first lady on the South Lawn to meet her counterpart from Ukraine.
During their meeting, Zelenska highlighted to human cost of Russia’s aggression against her country.
“You cannot go into a war zone and come back and not feel sorrow and pain,” said First Lady Dr. Jill Biden.
Her remarks come as Putin traveled to the middle east to meet Iranian President Raisi, marking the second time he’s left Russia since the war began.
As the West heaps sanctions on Russia and the costly campaign drags on, Putin is seeking to bolster ties with Tehran, a fellow target of severe U.S. sanctions and a potential military and trade partner. In recent weeks, Russian officials visited an airfield in central Iran at least twice to review Tehran’s weapons-capable drones for possible use in Ukraine, the White House has alleged.
“We will continue to watch very closely. All of our sanctions remain in force. Any transaction of this sort would implicate a number of sanctions that we have on the books,” said Ned Price, State Department Spokesperson.