Iranian FM spokesperson responds to US allegations

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Nasser Kanaani told reporters, on Tuesday, "The history of cooperation between the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Russian Federation in the field of some new technologies dates back to before the start of the war in Ukraine and there has been no special development in this relationship recently."

Furthermore, the spokesperson said that "The position of the Islamic Republic of Iran regarding the war in Ukraine is quite clear and has been officially announced many times," adding that "The claim of the US official comes while the United States and the Europeans have for years turned the occupying and aggressor countries, including in the West Asian region, into a storehouse for their various fatal weapons." 

Kanaani stressed that "Without these weapons, the continuation of more than seven decades of aggression, crime, and occupation by the Zionists in occupied territories were not possible," adding that "We continue our efforts to stop the war and bring all parties back to negotiations. The plight of Ukrainian refugees, the war, and the deaths in that country are saddening to us; We condemn the displacement of the people of Ukraine in the same way that we condemn the displacement of the people of Afghanistan and other countries. We do not consider war as a solution; neither in Ukraine nor in Afghanistan or Yemen, etc."

Earlier in the day, Jake Sullivan, said that information sourced from a US top official suggests that Iran is planning to supply Russia with hundreds of combat drones for use in the war with Ukraine.

Sullivan told reporters 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," adding that this provision will be done on an ‘expedited timeline’ due to alleged "significant losses in Ukraine".

Sullivan said it was unclear whether Iran had already expedited any of the weapons to Russia, but the US has “information” that indicates Iran is preparing to initiate training for Russian forces to use the combat drones as early as this month.