Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian said on Saturday, Nov. 5, that Tehran did indeed transfer a “limited number” of drones to Russia, but that was before the start of the war in Ukraine. The head of the Iranian Foreign Ministry stressed that “Iran will respond appropriately if it is confirmed that Moscow is using these drones in Ukraine,” reports The Times of Israel, citing AP.
It should be noted that for a long time the authorities of Iran and the Russian Federation denied that Iranian drones are used by the Russian military during military operations on the territory of Ukraine. Earlier this week, Iranian Ambassador to the UN Amir Saeed Iravani called the allegations of this kind “totally unfounded” and confirmed that Iran is neutral in everything related to the war in Ukraine.
On October 22, a spokesman for the Iranian Foreign Ministry also claimed that allegations that Russia was using Iranian-made drones in the war in Ukraine were “false and baseless.” The announcement came one day after a United Nations Security Council briefing on the humanitarian situation in Ukraine stated that Iran’s supply of Mohajer and Shahed series drones was a violation of Resolution 2231.
“Since August, and in violation of UN Security Council Resolution 2231, Iran has handed over Mohajer and Shahed series drones to Russia. These Iranian-made UAVs have subsequently been used in numerous attacks on Ukraine, including a massive attack on October 10, which damaged civilians and civilian infrastructure. In addition to the easily identifiable remnants of these UAVs found in Ukraine, there is significant documentation, including photographs and videos, of the use of these UAVs against Ukraine,” the special message posted on the UN website said.
In recent months, cargo planes from Iran’s Air Force Saha Airlines and Pouya Air, which is affiliated with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, have repeatedly made flights from Tehran to Moscow. Presumably, they delivered Iranian unmanned aerial vehicles, which the Russian army uses in the war against Ukraine.
The flights come amid continued claims by officials in Moscow and Tehran that Iran is not supplying weapons to Russia. But it is reliably known that Iran has already supplied hundreds or even thousands of unmanned aerial vehicles to the Russian Federation, which are used by the Russian army during the war against Ukraine. We are talking, first of all, about the Shahed-136 loitering ammunition. Also, Iranian Shahed-131 and Mohajer-6 UAVs were seen and shot down over the territory of Ukraine.
Iran is expected to deliver Arash-2 kamikaze drones and Fateh-110 and Zolfaghar short-range ballistic missiles to Russia.