Moscow and Tehran are moving ahead with plans to build a new factory in Russia that could manufacture at least 6,000 Iranian drones for the war in Ukraine. This is a sign of deepening cooperation between Iran and Russia, officials from the country allied with the United States said, wsj.com writes.
As part of their new military alliance, a high-level Iranian delegation flew to Russia in early January to visit a planned site for the plant and discuss the details needed to launch the project, officials said. Both countries are aiming to build a faster drone capable of creating new challenges for Ukraine’s air defense, officials said. Tehran has already provided hundreds of drones to Moscow, which it has used to hit military and civilian targets in Ukraine, U.S. officials said. And the Biden administration has warned that Russia and Iran are developing a “full-fledged defense partnership.” The White House says Moscow is training Iranian pilots to fly Russian fighter jets, intending to send those jets to Tehran by the end of the year.
In December, the White House warned that Moscow and Tehran were considering building a joint drone production line in Russia.
Now, according to US officials, the talks have turned into concrete plans after a Jan. 5 visit to the Russian city of Yelabuga. They said they toured an empty site where the leaders of the two countries are planning to build a new factory capable of producing at least 6,000 drones in the coming years. The Iranian delegation was led by Brigadier General Abdollah Mehrabi, chairman of the Jihad Organization of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Aerospace Forces, and Gassem Damavandyan, CEO of Iran’s Quds Aviation Industry, a key defense manufacturer who, according to an expert on developing and building drones in the country, led the Iranian delegation. .
So far, Iran has supplied Russia primarily with so-called suicide drones, known as Shahed-136s, which contain small amounts of explosives that explode when the drones crash into a target, US and Ukrainian officials say. Russia has used drones to strike Ukraine’s power grid in an attempt to cut off the country’s electricity supply during the cold winter and blow up morale. Ukraine has shot down more than 540 drones since they began appearing in the country’s skies last fall, according to the Air Force.
Now, officials say, Iran is working with Russia to develop the Shahed-136 model, which is expected to be equipped with a new engine that will allow it to fly faster and farther.
Earlier, FACTS reported that, according to former American General Mark Gertling, Putin is running out of weapons in the Ukrainian conflict. The expert noted that in the face of a reduction in the supply of weapons and ammunition, the Russian president seeks to improve relations with countries such as Iran and China.
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Source: Fakty
I am Joseph Zeman, a journalist who mostly covers world news for the Daily News Hack. I pride myself on being able to find and report stories that others might miss. I have a knack for being able to see both sides of every issue and this allows me to provide readers with well-rounded stories. In addition to my work as a journalist, I am also an author and have written several books on current affairs.
