The US government continues to assume that Russia wants to acquire Iranian combat drones. The US has information that a Russian government delegation has visited an Iranian airport at least twice for a demonstration of attack-capable drones, a senior US official said Saturday on the sidelines of US President Joe Biden’s visit to Saudi Arabia.
According to CNN, Iran unveiled the Shahed-191 and Shahed-129 drones. Both types of drones are capable of carrying precision-guided missiles.
Russia wants the drones “obviously for use in the war in Ukraine”. He added that Russia is banking on Iran in the Middle East. Iran is preparing to ship several hundred of these drones to Russia, Jake Sullivan, US national security adviser to Biden, told CNN.
Sullivan said last Monday that there were indications that Iran wanted to support Russia in the war of aggression against Ukraine. Iran’s Foreign Minister Hussein Amirabdollahian then assured Ukraine that it would not deliver drones to Russia. He spoke of an American “propaganda act”.
A US official told CNN that the growing partnership between Iran and Russia is an example of why the US needs to maintain its presence and influence in the Middle East.
