War in Ukraine
Iran plans to send Russia drones that can carry weapons: US official
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WASHINGTON • Iran is preparing to provide Russia with hundreds of drone aircraft, including some capable of carrying weaponry, US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said on Monday.
He said US intelligence "indicates that the Iranian government is preparing to provide Russia with up to several hundred UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles), including weapons-capable UAVs, on an expedited timeline".
He did not give details on the intelligence or its sources.
"Our information further indicates Iran is preparing to train Russian forces to use these UAVs, with initial training sessions slated to begin as soon as early July," Mr Sullivan told reporters.
Russia has relied heavily on drones in its invasion of Ukraine.
The government in Kyiv claims to have downed more than 600 of the aircraft, according to the Kyiv Independent.
Ukraine's military has also employed drones to attack Russian forces and target artillery strikes. The United States has included drones among the weapons it is providing to Kyiv.
The Russian authorities claimed that Ukraine conducted a drone strike on an oil refinery in southern Russia last month.
Ukraine's military did not confirm the attack.
Without specifically mentioning drones, Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani said cooperation with Russia "in the field of some modern technologies predates the war in Ukraine, and there has been no special development in that regard recently".
Teheran's position regarding the war "is quite clear and has been officially announced many times", he added.
Iran has maintained that it is against the war in Ukraine and called for a political solution, while blaming the roots of the crisis on the US and the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation's expansion.
"The claim of the American official (Sullivan) comes as the US and the Europeans have for years turned the occupying and aggressor countries, including in the West Asia region, into a storehouse of their various deadly weapons," Mr Kanani said.
BLOOMBERG, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
