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Iran is preparing to provide Russia with several hundred drones, including some with combat capabilities, US national security adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters on July 11.
Sullivan made the announcement during an afternoon briefing at the White House. The adviser said that the US has information that shows Iran is preparing to train Russian forces to use these drones, adding that delivers will begin at some point this month.
“It’s unclear whether Iran has delivered any of these UAVs to Russia already,” Sullivan said. “This is just one example of how Russia is looking to countries like Iran for capabilities that … have been used before we got the ceasefire in place in Yemen to attack Saudi Arabia.”
Sullivan went on to stress that the US will continue to support Ukraine in the face of Russia’s ongoing special military operation.
When asked about Sullivan’s statement, Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson Nasser Kanaani neither confirmed nor denied it.
“The history of cooperation between Iran and Russia in the field of some modern technologies dates back to before the war in Ukraine,” Kanaani was cited as saying by semi-official Mehr news agency. “There has been no particular development in this regard recently.”
Despite being the subject of strict sanctions, Iran made rapid advancements in drone technologies in the last few years. Today, the country is one of the world leaders in this field.
Russian President Vladimir Putin is set to visit Iran on July 19 to meet with Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and President Ebrahim Raisi. Many Western observers speculated that Putin will discuss the alleged drone deal during the visit. Nevertheless, the Kremlin dismissed these speculations on July 13.
The Russian military operates thousands of drones which were developed and produced in Russia. Yet, it can for sure benefit from Iran’s well-established drone industry.
What types of Iranian drones Russia may be interested in remains unclear. The Russian military may be in the look for large quantities of some of Iran’s cheaper drones, like the Ababil-2, to use them as decoys to test and deplete Ukrainian air defenses. It may be also interested in some of Iran’s more advanced suicide drones, like the Shahed-136 that can hit targets more than 2,000 kilometers away with pinpoint accuracy. Another possibility is that Russia is looking for a technology transfer deal.
The claims made by Sullivan could be true. However, they may be also fabrications meant to mount more pressure on Iran. Washington was not satisfied with the last round of talks with Tehran on the revival of the 2015 nuclear agreement.
