Iran: We gave drones to Russia but before the war in Ukraine

Iran admitted today (5.11.2022) for the first time that it has indeed supplied Russia with drones but clarified that they were delivered before the war broke out in Ukraine, at a time when Russian forces are using them to strike infrastructure and power stations.

In particular, Iran’s Foreign Minister, Hossein Amirabdollahian, stated that a “small number” of drones were sent to Russia a few months before the February 24 invasion of Ukraine but denied allegations from Ukraine and the West that Tehran was continuing the missions.

“This noise made by some western countries that Iran has supplied missiles and drones to Russia to contribute to the war against Ukraine…the missile part is completely wrong“, the minister said, according to the official IRNA news agency, in the most detailed statement from the Iranian Foreign Ministry.

“The drone part is true and we supplied Russia with a small number of drones in the months leading up to the war in Ukraine” said Amirabdolakhian.

In recent weeks, Ukraine has reported an increase in attacks by Iranian-made Shahed-13 drones targeting civilian infrastructure, mainly power stations and dams, which Russia denies.

Last month, two senior Iranian officials and two Iranian diplomats told Reuters that Iran had committed to supplying Russia with surface-to-surface missiles except for drones.

The official IRNA news agency quoted Amirabdolakhian as saying that Tehran and Kyiv had agreed to discuss allegations of Iranian drone use in Ukraine two weeks ago, but the Ukrainians did not show up for the scheduled meeting.