Iran sent more than 3,500 drones to Russia for its war against Ukraine: intel dossier

The Paris-based dissident group Nationwide Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) accused the Iranian regime of furnishing Russian strongman Vladimir Putin’s military with greater than 3,500 drones for his scorched-earth struggle in opposition to Ukraine.

In keeping with studies from the social community of the Individuals’s Mojahedin Group of Iran (PMOI/MEK) contained in the Islamic Republic, “Iran’s UAV [unmanned aerial vehicle] sale contract to Russia consists of varied offensive drones, together with Shahed-129, Mohajer-6 and suicide drones Shahed-136 and Shahed-131.” MEK is a part of the Nationwide Council of Resistance of Iran umbrella group.

The NCRI file states, “Tehran has offered greater than 3,500 UAVs to Russia. Most of those had been made on the factories of the Ministry of Protection, with others produced by the factories of the Iranian Aviation and Area Industries Affiliation (IASIA).”

The allegation that the theocratic authorities supplied greater than 3,500 drones to Russia signifies a dramatic enhance of the Iranian regime’s help for Putin’s struggle machine.

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Lately, Ukraine stated that roughly 400 drones have already been utilized by Russia, from a complete provide of roughly 2,000 weapons. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy introduced the downing of 223 drones produced by Iran’s regime.

Final week, Zelenskyy stood within the capital metropolis of Kyiv beside what was ostensibly a downed Iranian Shahed drone. 

Iran’s assault drones are a supply of grave concern for Western international locations, together with the U.S., in search of to assist Ukraine in its efforts to save lots of civilian lives and oust Russian forces from its territory.

In keeping with the NCRI report, “Among the UAVs are despatched to Russia are from the Qadr Airbase of the IRGC [Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps].”

The Trump administration sanctioned the IRGC as a international terrorist entity.

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The report stated, “When Qassem Soleimani, the previous commander of the IRGC Quds Power, was killed by the U.S. on January 6, 2020, his physique was transferred to the Qadr base. The Qadr base has its personal hangars and particular companies. The Mehrabad airport administration doesn’t intrude in its affairs. The Quds Power makes use of the Qadr base and IRGC-affiliated plane corporations to ship weapons to Syria, Iraq and Lebanon.”

The E.U. and U.S. authorities categorized Soleimani as a terrorist, who was accountable for the deaths of greater than 600 American army personnel within the Center East.

When requested in regards to the NCRI report and if the U.S. plans to tug the plug on its nuclear deal negotiations with Iran’s regime in Vienna as punishment for Tehran for promoting drones to Russia, a U.S. State Division spokesman informed Fox Information Digital that, “We have been warning since July that Iran was planning to promote UAVs to Russia to be used in opposition to Ukraine. In September, Russia transferred UAVs it bought from Iran into Crimea to be used in its struggle in opposition to Ukraine.”

The spokesperson continued, “We are able to affirm that Russian army personnel primarily based in Crimea have been piloting Iranian UAVs and utilizing them to conduct kinetic strikes throughout Ukraine, together with in strikes in opposition to Kyiv in current days. We assess that Iranian army personnel had been on the bottom in Crimea and assisted Russia in these operations.”
 

Iranian Supreme Chief Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, middle, and Russian President Vladimir Putin, left, greet one another as Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi seems to be on throughout their assembly in Tehran, Iran, on July 19, 2022.
(Workplace of the Iranian Supreme Chief by way of AP)

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The spokesperson added, “Russia has acquired dozens of UAVs to date and can doubtless proceed to obtain extra shipments sooner or later. Moreover, in mild of Russia’s ongoing provide shortages, we’re involved that Russia may additionally search to amass superior typical weapons from Iran, equivalent to surface-to-surface missiles, that can virtually definitely be used to help Russia’s struggle in opposition to Ukraine. We’ll proceed to make use of all the instruments at our disposal to delay, deter, impede and impose prices on actors concerned in such actions.”

The NCRI file obtained by Fox Information Digital might carry weight inside international capitals and in Washington. In 2002, the NCRI first revealed that Iran’s regime constructed nuclear amenities close to Natanz and Arak.

Members of the Iranian revolutionary guard march throughout a parade in Tehran, Iran.
(Reuters)

Shahin Gobadi, a spokesman of Nationwide Council of Resistance of Iran in Paris, informed Fox Information Digital, “It’s extra crucial for the European Union and the U.S. to desert their wait-and-see method to the regime. The clerical regime’s malign intervention in hotspots within the Center East and Europe are nicely established.”

He continued, “It’s time to maintain it to account for its egregious human rights violations at dwelling that now consists of killing teenage protesters. Continued engagement solely emboldens the regime to shed blood in Iran and additional destabilize the area and the world. The clerical regime’s persistent violation of U.N. resolutions requires [it] to make use of the snapback mechanism to re-impose the six U.N. Safety Council resolutions.”

The snapback sanctions provision refers back to the penalty for Iran’s violations of U.N. resolutions with respect to its alleged nuclear weapons program.

Critics of the Biden administration’s Iran coverage, just like the NCRI, oppose the so-called Joint Complete Plan of Motion — the formal title for the Iran nuclear deal — as a result of it would, they argue, fund terrorism and never deter Tehran from creating an atomic bomb.

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In keeping with one assume tank examine revealed by FDD, the atomic accord will pump as a lot as $275 billion into Iran’s coffers throughout the first yr of the deal and merely impose a brief restriction on Tehran’s functionality to construct a nuclear weapons machine.

Gobadi stated, “Belligerence and sponsoring terror have been a pillar of the clerical regime’s rule so as to cowl up and complement its repression at dwelling, one thing the regime has been in determined want notably in mild of the revolution that is occurring in Iran.”

“This harmful improvement can be the byproduct of the tradition of impunity, which the regime has loved regardless of its egregious human rights abuses at dwelling and its brazen and destabilizing actions past Iran’s border,” he continued.

When requested in regards to the NCRI’s report about drone gross sales to Russia, the international ministry of the Islamic Republic of Iran and its diplomatic mission to the U.N. refused to remark.

Iranian Overseas Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, proper, attends a press convention with Josep Borrell, the excessive consultant of the European Union for Overseas Affairs and Safety Coverage, middle, on the international ministry headquarters in Iran’s capital, Tehran, on June 25, 2022.
(Atta Kenare/AFP by way of Getty Photos)

Final week, Iran’s regime categorically denied that it has sealed arms offers with Moscow. Russia denies utilizing Iranian manufactured drones.

Iranian Overseas Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian stated the allegations are “baseless” and demanded that Ukraine “current any proof supporting the accusations.” Amir-Abdollahian added, “If … it turns into clear to us that Russia has used Iranian drones within the struggle in opposition to Ukraine, we will certainly not be detached about this situation.”

Tehran isn’t any stranger to offering arms and combatants to dictatorships within the Center East and its authoritarian allies throughout the globe. Fox Information Digital reported in 2018 that Iran produced chemical 107-millimeter rockets utilized in Syrian regime assaults on civilians.

Fox Information Digital reached out to the Division of Protection for a remark.