US believes Russians began training on Iranian drones over last few weeks amid war: Report

The United States believes that Russian officials have started training on drones in Iran over the last multiple weeks as the Russia-Ukraine war continues unabated. A US official told CNN, “During the last several weeks, Russian officials conducted training in Iran as part of the agreement for UAV transfers from Iran to Russia,” adding that the intelligence regarding the training has been disclosed only recently. 

While the Russia-Ukraine war entered day 168, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov had said last month that Russia had “no comments on the matter” of Iran supplying drones to Russia for assisting Moscow’s army. The media outlet had reported that a Russian delegation had visited an airfield in Iran two times since June to examine the weapons-capable drones, according to National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan. 

The US officials have also revealed to the media outlet that Iran had started showcasing the Shahed-191 and Shahed-129 drones also known as UAVs or Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, to Russia at Kashan Airfield south of Tehran in June. It is to note that both Iranian drones have the capability to carry precision-guided missiles. In July, US NSA had said that Washington believed Iran was intending to sell Russia “hundreds” of drones amid the war in Ukraine. However, both Tehran and Moscow had publicly rejected the claims. 

US: ‘No indications’ of Iran supplying drones to Russia

Backtracking on its previous claims, the United States has now admitted that it has no evidence of Iran supplying drones to Russia amid the Moscow-Kyiv war. After previously accusing Iran of helping Russia with unmanned aerial vehicles or drones with the capability of carrying arms to use in the Ukraine war, US National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby has now made a stark U-turn saying that the White House has not seen any deal “that has been actually affected.”

“We’ve seen no indications of any sort of actual delivery and/or purchase of Iranian drones by the Russian Ministry of Defense,” Kirby said.

Earlier, US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan had said that the US had “information” which indicates that Iran is readying to train the Russian army to use such military equipment as soon as this month. Sullivan told reporters, “Our information indicates that the Iranian government is preparing to provide Russia with up to several hundred UAVs, including weapons-capable UAVs on an expedited timeline.” 

The White House had reiterated that Russia was seeking Iran’s assistance to provide Moscow with “hundreds” of drones to use in Ukraine. Sullivan’s revelation regarding Iran and Russia comes as President Joe Biden readies for a trip to Israel and Saudi Arabia, where Tehran's nuclear program and other such activities in the region were expected to be discussed. Amid such speculation, Russian President Vladimir Putin was hosted in Iran by Iran for three days.                                                     

Image: AP