\n<\/p>\n
NEW YORK (AP) \u2014 Iran\u2019s president on Monday denied his country had sent drones to Russia for use in the war in Ukraine, even as the United States accuses Iran of not only providing the weapons but helping Russia build a plant<\/a> to manufacture them.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are against the war in Ukraine,\u201d President Ebrahim Raisi said as he met with media executives on the sidelines of the world\u2019s premier global conference, the high-level leaders’ meeting at the U.N. General Assembly.<\/p>\n The Iranian leader spoke just hours after five Americans who had been held in Iranian custody arrived in Qatar, freed in a deal<\/a> that saw President Joe Biden agree to unlock nearly $6 billion in frozen Iranian assets.<\/p>\n Known as a hard-liner, Raisi seemingly sought to strike a diplomatic tone. He reiterated offers to mediate the Russia-Ukraine war despite being one of the Kremlin\u2019s strongest backers. And he suggested that the just-concluded deal with the United States that led to the prisoner exchange and assets release could \u201chelp build trust\u201d between the longtime foes.<\/p>\n Raisi acknowledged that Iran and Russia have long had strong ties, including defense cooperation. But he denied sending weapons to Moscow since the war began. \u201cIf they have a document that Iran gave weapons<\/a> or drones<\/a> to the Russians after the war,” he said, then they should produce it.<\/p>\n Iranian officials have made a series of contradictory comments about the drones. U.S. and European officials say the sheer number of Iranian drones being used in the war in Ukraine shows that the flow of such weapons has not only continued but intensified after hostilities began.<\/p>\n Despite his remarks about trust, Raisi’s tone toward the United States wasn’t all conciliatory; he had harsh words at other moments.<\/p>\n Raisi said his country \u201csought good relations with all neighboring countries\u201d in the Middle East, including Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.<\/p>\n \u201cWe believe that if the Americans stop interfering in the countries of the Persian Gulf and other regions in the world, and mind their own business \u2026 the situation of the countries and their relations will improve,\u201d Raisi said.<\/p>\n The United Arab Emirates first sought to reengage diplomatically with Tehran after attacks on ships off their coasts that were attributed to Iran. Saudi Arabia, with Chinese mediation, reached a d\u00e9tente in March to re-establish diplomatic ties after years of tensions, including over the kingdom\u2019s war on Yemen, Riyadh\u2019s opposition to Syrian President Bashar Assad and fears over Iran\u2019s nuclear program.<\/p>\n Raisi warned other countries in the region not to get too close with U.S. ally Israel, saying: “The normalization of relations with the Zionist regime does not create security.\u201d<\/p>\n The Iranian leader was dismissive of Western criticism of his country’s treatment of women, its crackdown on dissent and its nuclear program, including over protests that began just over a year ago over the death in police custody last year of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Kurdish-Iranian woman arrested for allegedly violating Iran\u2019s mandatory headscarf law. As a prosecutor, Raisi took part in the 1988 mass executions that killed some 5,000 dissidents in Iran.<\/p>\n Raisi has sought, without evidence, to portray the popular nationwide demonstrations as a Western plot.<\/p>\n \u201cThe issue(s) of women, hijab, human rights and the nuclear issue,” he said, \u201care all pretexts by the Americans and Westerners to damage the Islamic republic as an independent country.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n