Iran's envoy to Ukraine, Shahriar Amouzegar, dismissed the support Kyiv has offered to the United States and its Gulf allies, as Ukraine advertises its expertise in destroying Iranian-designed drones launched by Russia.
Iran has been attacking countries across the region -- including with drones -- in response to US and Israeli airstrikes against Tehran that killed its supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
"As for the actions Ukraine is taking in the Middle East against drones, we essentially consider them nothing more than a joke and a showy gesture," Amouzegar told AFP in an exclusive interview.
AFP spoke to charge d'affaires Amouzegar at the Iranian embassy in Kyiv, a partly vacated house near the Ukrainian presidential administration.
Kyiv stripped the Iranian ambassador of his accreditation in 2022 and scaled down the mission in response to Tehran's supply of Shahed drones to Moscow.
But the embassy continues to operate despite Ukraine fighting off near-daily barrages of Iranian-designed drones launched by Russia, Tehran's ally, throughout the four-year invasion.
Ukraine said it had sent seasoned drone experts to Gulf states, which are facing similar threats, a move condemned by Amouzegar.
"Unfortunately, Ukraine has now effectively entered a stage of direct confrontation with us; that is, it has placed itself alongside our enemies," he said.
He denied that Iran was involved in the Russian invasion, saying that it supported Ukraine's territorial integrity and that Kyiv "played the 'Iran card' in order to obtain more resources from the West".
Kyiv has been seeking to trade anti-drone technologies and expertise for conventional air defence missiles, which it urgently needs.
US President Donald Trump told Fox News radio that his country didn't need Ukraine's help in drone defence, apparently contradicting statements from Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky that the US had asked for help.
Kyiv said it had dispatched anti-drone experts who have begun working in Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.
A Ukrainian team was also in Jordan, a senior official told AFP on condition of anonymity, without elaborating.
"Ukraine's presence in this war does not really have any real significance for us. We do not take it very seriously," Amouzegar said.
"We are absolutely not afraid of this recent action by the Ukrainian government. We have new technologies and innovations that will neutralise all these efforts," he said.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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