WASHINGTON (AP) – The White House said Monday it believes Russia will turn to Iran to provide “hundreds” of unmanned aerial vehicles, including weapons-capable drones, for use in its ongoing war. in Ukraine.
U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Jake Sullivan said it was unclear whether Iran had already provided any of the unmanned systems to Russia, but said the U.S. has “information” indicating that Iran s ‘is preparing to train Russian forces to use them as early as this month.
“Our information indicates that the Iranian government is preparing to provide Russia with up to several hundred UAVs, including UAVs capable of weapons in an accelerated timeframe,” he told reporters on Monday.
Sullivan said it was evidence that Russia’s overwhelming bombings in Ukraine, which have led it to consolidate gains in the east of the country in recent weeks, “were having a cost to maintaining its own weapons.” .
Sullivan’s revelation comes on the eve of President Joe Biden’s trip to Israel and Saudi Arabia, where Iran’s nuclear program and malicious activities in the region will be a key topic of discussion.
The U.S. decision to publicly reveal that the two countries’ main regional rival was helping rearm Russia comes when both Israel and Saudi Arabia have resisted joining global efforts to punish Russia for its invasion of Russia. Ukraine because of its internal interests.
Sullivan also noted that Iran has provided unmanned aerial vehicles similar to Yemen’s Houthis rebels to attack Saudi Arabia before a ceasefire was reached earlier this year.
Military analyst Samuel Bendett of the CNA think tank said Russia’s choice of Iran as a source of drones is logical because “for the past 20 years or more Iran has been perfecting its fighting force. of drones “. Their drones have been in more combat than the Russians. ”They are pioneers of so-called stray ammunition,“ kamikaze ”drones like the Switchblade that the U.S. has provided to Ukraine.
Iran has “a proven track record of flying drones for hundreds of miles and achieving its goals,” Bendett added, including the penetration of U.S.-supplied air defenses and the attack on Saudi oil refineries. He said Iranian drones could be very effective in attacking power plants, refineries and other critical infrastructure in Ukraine.
Bendett noted that before the Ukrainian war, Russia had licensed drone technology for its Forpost UAV from a proven supplier: Israel. The Jewish state has remained neutral in the Russia-Ukraine conflict, so this source is no longer available to Moscow.
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Associated Press writer Frank Bajak in Boston contributed to this report.
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