Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu turned down a request from late Republican Senator Lindsey Graham to transfer an Iron Dome air defense system from the United States to Ukraine in 2023, The Washington Post reported Saturday.

Axar.az informs, citing Haaretz, that Netanyahu vetoed the transfer by citing the terms of a joint-production agreement that grants Israel the final say regarding the system's deployment, even though the battery in question was paid for by the U.S. government.

Responding to the report, Israel's embassy in Washington confirmed the report, saying the decision was made out of concern that "the technology would find its way to the Iranians."

The embassy also said Israel returned Patriot missile batteries to the United States so they could be sent to Ukraine instead.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio told The Washington Post that Israel's capacity to veto exports of U.S. arms to other countries was a necessary limitation imposed by co-production. "Any time you enter into co-production, we have those restrictions," he said.