The head of the Iranian regime’s terrorist Quds Force (Qods Force), who is subject to a United Nations travel ban, met senior Russian officials in Moscow last month, it was reported on Friday.
Qassem Soleimani, chief of the terrorist overseas arm of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), has been subject to an international travel ban and asset freeze by the U.N. Security Council since 2007.
An official of the Iranian regime, who declined to be identified, told Reuters on Friday that Soleimani had made the trip in the second half of July, where he had held talks covering regional and bilateral issues and the delivery to Iran of S-300 surface-to-air missiles and other weapons.
Soleimani had arrived in Moscow on July 24 and met President Vladimir Putin and Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu before departing three days later, Fox News reported on Thursday.
A Kremlin spokesman denied any meeting between Soleimani and Putin had taken place, RIA news agency reported.
However, two U.S. security sources told Reuters the United States believed the meeting between Putin and Soleimani took place.
U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, Samantha Power, said all states were obliged to enforce the ban. “These are very concerning reports but we are still tracking down the facts,” she told reporters after a Security Council meeting on Syria.
“Qassem Soleimani is subject to a UN travel ban and this travel ban requires all states to prohibit Qassem Soleimani from traveling to their nation and the only exception to that is if the Iran sanctions committee grants an exemption,” she said at UN headquarters in New York.
Both Russia and the regime in Iran back Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad against rebels in the country’s civil war.
One of the U.S. security sources said Soleimani also had numerous other meetings in Moscow in July.
A senior administration official in Washington said U.S. sanctions on Soleimani would remain despite the deal under which Iran agreed to curb its nuclear program in exchange for an easing of sanctions.
“We will maintain sanctions on the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the Quds Force, its leadership – including Qassem Soleimani — and its entire network,” the official said.
Washington designated the Quds Force as a supporter of terrorism in 2007. The European Union did the same in 2011. U.N. member states are required to deny entry to blacklisted individuals.
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