Europe: The information that Tehran intended to provide Russia with drones shocked Ukrainian officials, according to a representative of Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s party.
Yevheniia Kravchuk, a member of the Ukrainian parliament, said in a statement that Tehran’s action would result in the casualties of more people in Ukraine.
According to US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan on Monday, Russia intends to buy hundreds of drones from Iran to employ in its conflict with Ukraine for both assault and surveillance purposes.
“Our information shows that the Iranian government is currently planning to provide Russia with up to several hundred UAVs, including weapons-capable UAVs, on an expedited timeline,” he said while adding that Washington’s information further indicates that Iran is currently planning to provide training to Russian forces to use these UAVs with early training sessions slated to begin as soon as early July.”
Meanwhile, the Iranian foreign ministry gave a reply to Sullivan’s statement, in which the ministry spokesman Naser Kanani said, “The Islamic Republic’s cooperation with the Russian Federation in some new technologies predates the war in Ukraine, and lately there have been no specific new developments.”
He added, while not clearly denying the news about delivering drones, “The position of the Islamic Republic of Iran regarding the war in Ukraine is quite clear and has been officially announced several times.”
The President of Russia, Vladimir Putin, is to visit Tehran next week.
Tehran has not officially taken side with Russia on Ukraine and says the conflict should be resolved via dialogue, but many officials, including President Ebrahim Raisi, have implicitly pointed the finger at Ukraine and blamed the country for instigating Russia to attack by seeking to join NATO.
