Iran helping Russia set up own assembly line, manufacturing units for Shahed 136: Report

Russia and its steadfast ally Iran have inked a deal that would allow Russia to produce Iranian-manufactured 'Shahed 136' drones used increasingly in the ongoing Ukraine conflict, according to new reports. At least three officials familiar with the development have reportedly stated that the agreement was finalized during a meeting in Iran earlier this month. Tehran is in the process of discussing the "designs and key components" of the UAVs for Russians to manufacture them in their territory, sources told the American newspaper WaPo.

In a further deepening of a Russia-Iran alliance since the invasion of Ukraine, the deal may be in progress to be finalized soon. With Moscow setting up its own assembly line and manufacturing capabilities for the drones that have proven to be highly effective in the war, it will be able to boost its stockpile very quickly, the officials told the paper. The development came despite that the US Treasury Department imposed sanctions on the Shahed Aviation Industries Research Center and other drone manufacturing firms to deter Russia and weaken its resolve in Kyiv. 

Shahed-136 'secret weapon' of Russia's president: NATO

Secretary general of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization [NATO],  Jens Stoltenberg, earlier called the Shahed-136 as the "secret weapon" of Russia's president Vladimir Putin. He insisted that it is also a "sign of his weakness." Russian forces have used the Iranian-supplied drones to launch assaults on the Ukrainian territory of Kyiv, Lviv, Ternopil, Zhytomyr, Dnipro, Kremenchuk, Zaporizhzhia and Kharkiv, killing at least 11 people and injuring 89. As many as "43 of 84 Russian missiles fired at Ukraine were shot down and 13 of 24 Russian drones were shot down," Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a video address.

Ukrainian intelligence services said in a statement that an estimated 32 Shahed-136 drones were also deployed in Belarus. The US intelligence had warned in July that Iran is planning to supply the Russian armed forces with "hundreds" of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), including weapons-capable drones, that would be used in the war in Ukraine. Speaking at a presser, the US national-security adviser Jake Sullivan, told reporters that Tehran was also planning to train Russian forces to use the drones.