Helmets, body armor, and a new drone are among the latest defense products Iran is allegedly selling to Russia, according to a report released on Monday by the Ukrainian Intelligence Directorate.
According to reports, the Kremlin is buying the Arash-2 suicide drone along with a new team of Iranian advisors who will instruct the Russian military on how to deploy the platform.
A second team of advisors from the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) is said to have arrived in the town of Dzhankoi in northern Crimea to help with the operation of Shahed-136 suicide drones and Mohajer-6 spy drones.
Iranian instructors and drones support Russia
The US government corroborated earlier Ukrainian reports on Thursday that Iranian military personnel were in control of the operation of Iranian drones in seized Ukrainian territory. The Ukrainian National Resistance Center asserted on Sunday that additional IRGC trainers had been seen in Belarus working with Russian military forces.
In recent days, we believe that Iranian personnel — Iranian military personnel — were on the ground in Crimea and assisted Russia in these operations, according to US State Department Spokesperson Ned Price. “We can confirm that Russian military personnel based in Crimea have been piloting Iranian UAVs and using them to conduct kinetic strikes across Ukraine in strikes against Kyiv,” Price said on Thursday.
Since August, Western officials have expressed concern over Russia’s use of Iranian drones, but Russian and Iranian officials have denied any such cooperation. Israeli President Isaac Herzog will provide US President Joe Biden with evidence that Russia is using Iranian unmanned aerial vehicles, according to a statement from Herzog’s office on Tuesday.
We believe that Iranian military troops aided Russia in these activities and were present on the ground in Crimea.
Ned Price, a spokesman for the US State Department
Russia is receiving more weapons sales.
On Monday, the Ukrainian Intelligence Directorate alleged that Russia would be receiving 1,500 pieces of Iranian-made body armor and an equal number of helmets. Additionally, Moscow has received an unknown quantity of munitions.
Additionally, it was claimed that Iranian instructors would give military advice to Russian personnel on how to use Iranian surface-to-surface missiles.
Two senior Iranian officials and two Iranian diplomats told Reuters on Tuesday that Iran has also agreed to supply the Kremlin surface-to-surface ballistic missiles, which The Washington Post’s earlier report also corroborated.
One of the Iranian diplomats claimed that the Russians had requested more drones and those Iranian ballistic missiles with enhanced accuracy, particularly the Fateh and Zolfaghar missile family.
