France has summoned Iran's chargé d'affaires over allegations that Tehran has supplied ballistic missiles to Russia for use in the Ukraine conflict, a diplomatic source told semi-official Fars News Agency on September 13.

The move comes amid escalating tensions between Western nations and Iran over its alleged role in the ongoing Ukraine war. The United States, along with several European countries, recently imposed new sanctions on Iran, accusing it of providing short-range ballistic missiles to Russia.

Paris wrote: "The governments of France, Germany, and the United Kingdom strongly condemn Iran’s export and Russia’s procurement of Iranian ballistic missiles."

The French Ministry of Foreign Affairs added, "This is a further escalation of Iran’s military support to Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine and will see Iranian missiles reaching European soil, increasing the suffering of the Ukrainian people."

Iran has vehemently denied these allegations. On September 12, Tehran summoned the ambassadors of Britain, France, Germany, and the Netherlands, calling their statements on Iran's alleged involvement in Ukraine "unconstructive."

Abbas Araghchi, Iran's Foreign Minister, also reacted to this claim on his account on the social network "X", writing: "Once again, the US and Europe acted based on false information and faulty logic; Iran has not sent ballistic missiles to Russia. Period!"

Iran's representative office at the United Nations also said in response to this unproven claim that the Islamic Republic of Iran's position on the Ukraine conflict has not changed.

Majid Nili Ahmadabadi, Director-General of Western Europe at Iran's Foreign Ministry, told the diplomats that claims of Iran selling ballistic missiles to Russia were "completely baseless and false."

Nasser Kanaani, the spokesperson for Iran's Foreign Ministry, also said in his weekly press conference on September 9: "We have a clear position regarding the developments in Ukraine and the Ukraine crisis, and it is regrettable that some parties who are themselves part of the war and conflict in the Ukraine crisis, make accusations against Iran with political motivations. We are not part of the war and conflict in Ukraine, and we have repeatedly emphasised that we consider a political solution to be the best solution for resolving this crisis."

This senior diplomat of the Islamic Republic of Iran added: "We strongly reject the claims made regarding Iran's role in exporting weapons to one side of the war in the Ukraine crisis, and we consider these accusations and claims to be due to the political intentions of the parties making these accusations."

The US Treasury Department on September 10 sanctioned 20 individuals, entities, and ships in Iran and Russia, including Iran Air, for their alleged involvement in weapons shipments to Moscow.

Washington accused Iran of providing Russia with Fath-360 short-range ballistic missiles, describing it as a "dramatic escalation" of the war.

In a coordinated move, Britain, France, and Germany announced the cancellation of bilateral air service agreements with Iran and imposed sanctions on Iran Air.

Iranian officials view these actions as an attempt to divert global attention from the ongoing conflict in Gaza. The state news agency IRNA reported that Iran sees the new round of Western sanctions as designed to shift public focus from "the unjust war in Gaza towards the Ukraine issue."

However, comments from Lufthansa officials via Russian agencies said that the German airline was continuing flights to Iran despite the hostile move.

The European diplomats stated they would relay Iran's message to their respective capitals.