Iran sends drone trainers to help Russians in Ukraine
QAMIHSLI, Syria (North Press) – Recently, Iran has sent trainers to Ukraine in order to help Russians in overcoming problems of a drones fleet Iran sold to Russia.
The New York Times, in a briefing, citing US officials briefed on the classified intelligence, said that this is another evidence of the growing closeness between Iran and Russia since Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
The fleet includes Shaheds, which are single-use drones meant to explode and destroy targets and the larger Mohajer-6 drone, which is used for surveillance and can carry up to four missiles.
The trainers, who are operating from a Russian military base in Crimea, are from the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, a branch of the Iranian military designated as a terrorist organization by the US.
“The deployment of the Iranian trainers appears to coincide with the stepped-up use of the drones in Ukraine and indicates a deeper involvement by Iran in the war,” the US officials added.
The United Nations’ human rights body considered that deliberate strikes on civilian targets as “war crimes.”
The US imposed additional sanctions on Iran, Iranian companies that have been involved in building the aircraft, and companies involved in their transportation.
While Iran has officially denied supplying Russia with drones for use in Ukraine, US officials said that the first batch of the aircrafts was transported in August.