Comment Iran is preparing to supply Russia with hundreds of drone aircraft, including advanced models capable of launching missiles, the Biden administration said Monday, publicly revealing a secret effort by Tehran to provide military aid for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The planned delivery of unmanned aerial vehicles, or UAVs, revealed by national security adviser Jake Sullivan at a White House briefing, could provide a major boost to Moscow’s efforts to find and destroy artillery and other Western-supplied weapons systems that have has been slowing the advance of Russian troops in recent weeks. Sullivan said Iran is also preparing to train the Russians on how to use the weapons, with initial training sessions starting as soon as this month. “Our information indicates that the Iranian government is preparing to provide Russia with up to several hundred UAVs, including weapons-capable UAVs on an accelerated schedule,” Sullivan told reporters in the White House briefing room. “It’s not clear if Iran has already delivered any of these UAVs to Russia,” Sullivan said, “but this is just one example of how Russia is looking to countries like Iran for capabilities.” In the hands of militants, Iranian drones become a powerful weapon The revelation comes as President Biden prepares to depart for the Middle East, where he is expected to hold talks with key allies about a unified regional policy toward Iran. Tensions between Washington and Tehran have further escalated in recent weeks amid faltering nuclear talks and an increase in missile and drone attacks on US military installations in the Middle East by militia groups armed and funded by Iran . While Russia has its own extensive arsenal of drones, the arrival of Iranian aircraft could help Moscow replenish a key weapons system that suffered heavy losses during the four-month conflict. Surveillance UAVs play a critical role in targeting enemy forces from artillery, and armed drones can hover over the battlefield for hours, firing missiles that can destroy tanks and other armored vehicles. The receipt of the UAVs is a “significant statement” about the limitations of Russian capabilities, said Frederick Kagan, director of the Critical Threats Project at the American Enterprise Institute. There are various indications that Russian-backed forces are running out of precision weapons, something that UAVs from Iran would change, he added. “It’s hard to say what the outcome will be, but it will clearly give the Russians more ability to conduct airstrikes, possibly deeper into Ukrainian territory than they have now,” Kagan said. Ukraine has used UAVs – many supplied by NATO countries such as Turkey – to destroy hundreds of Russian tanks and armored personnel carriers since the invasion began. Moscow, now diplomatically isolated and under heavy economic sanctions, has struggled to replace some of its lost military hardware, while Ukraine receives billions of dollars worth of weapons, including state-of-the-art artillery systems from the United States. “From our perspective, we will continue to do our part to help maintain an effective defense of Ukraine,” Sullivan said, “and help the Ukrainians show that the Russian effort to try to wipe Ukraine off the map it cannot succeed.” Iran has emerged in recent years as a major drone manufacturer. Among its military models is the Shahed-129, which closely resembles the US-made Predator UAV used in military and counter-terrorism operations overseas. Some military experts believe the Shahed-129 is a Predator clone, a reverse engineering of a US spy plane that crashed in Iran several years ago. Biden’s visit to Saudi Arabia highlights tension between human rights and security concerns Iranian leaders have freely shared UAV systems with outside groups, particularly pro-Iranian militias in Iraq, Syria and Yemen. Iranian-designed drones have been used to attack US and allied military bases in the Middle East, as well as civilian targets such as oil refineries. Over the years, Russia has been a key trade partner and occasional military ally of Iran. While Moscow joined the United States and the European Union in supporting the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, it also fought alongside Iran to help defend Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad — a key ally for both countries — during of Syria’s 11-year civil war. Iran’s apparent decision to provide military aid to Moscow could further undermine efforts to revive the nuclear deal. After President Donald Trump unilaterally pulled out of the deal in 2018, Iran reneged on a promise to reduce its stockpile of enriched uranium to levels well below what would be needed to build a nuclear weapon. Since then, Tehran has gone beyond the agreed restrictions and now has enough fissile material to build at least one bomb if it so chooses, according to nuclear weapons experts. U.S. intelligence agencies say they have so far seen no evidence that Iran has begun building actual weapons. Some Iran experts predict the country may attempt to derail Biden’s upcoming Middle East visit by authorizing his proxy groups to launch a provocation, such as a missile attack on a US military installation. “An attack during the summit could have many benefits for Tehran,” Michael Eisenstadt, director of the Military and Security Studies program at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, wrote in an essay published on Monday on the team’s website. Among the potential benefits: “humiliation of US officials and their Saudi hosts [and] showing that Washington cannot protect its friends even when the president visits,” he wrote. Praveena Somasundaram contributed to this report.
