US Approach to Ukraine War Denounced

Tehran denounced the US administration’s decision to deliver advanced cluster munitions to Ukraine, saying the move attests to Washington’s resolve to prolong and complicate the war in the former Soviet republic.
US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan confirmed on Friday that Washington will send cluster munitions to Ukraine after President Joe Biden approved the transfer of the controversial weapons as part of a new military aid package to Kiev.
“The US decision to send cluster bombs to Ukraine shows Washington’s determination to perpetuate and further complicate the war in Ukraine,” Nasser Kanaani, Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman, wrote in a tweet on Sunday.
“The move is another example of the United States’ destabilizing actions,” he said, adding that sending such weapons will “indiscriminately contribute to more bloodshed and destruction.”
Reports emerging earlier this week said that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was pushing the United States to provide Kiev with cluster munitions to use against Russian forces.
The Ukrainian government also called on the Biden administration to approve sending the globally-banned weapons to Kiev. The White House announced afterward that Washington would send Ukraine a cluster munitions package to help in its counteroffensive against Russia.
Expressing gratitude for the “much-needed” assistance, Zelensky said, “The expansion of Ukraine’s defense capabilities will provide new tools for the de-occupation of our land and bringing peace closer.”
Russia vehemently condemned the US decision to provide Ukraine with advanced cluster munitions and insisted that “the current level of American provocations is really off scale, bringing humanity closer to a new world war.”
Cluster bombs are banned under the Convention on Cluster Munitions, an international treaty that addresses the humanitarian consequences and unacceptable harm caused to civilians by cluster munitions through a categorical prohibition and a framework for action.
The weapons can contain dozens of smaller bomblets, dispersing over vast areas, often killing and maiming civilians. The CCMs are banned because unexploded bomblets can pose a risk to civilians for years after the fighting is over.