Iran’s foreign minister on Saturday, 5 November admits for the first time that his nation has supplied Russia with drones, insisting the transfer came before Russia’s war on Ukraine that has seen the Iranian-made drones divebombing Kyiv.
The statement by Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian comes after months of confusing messaging from Iran about the weapons shipment, as Russia sends the drones thrashing into Ukrainian energy infrastructure and civilian targets.
“We gave a limited number of drones to Russia months before the Ukraine war,” Amirabdollahian told the international news media after a meeting in Tehran.
Lastly, Iranian authorities had denied arming Russia in its war on Ukraine. Just prior this week, Iran’s Ambassador to the U.N. Amir Saeid Iravani called the allegations “totally unfounded” and reiterated Iran’s position of neutrality in the war. The U.S. and its Western allies on the Security Council have called on Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to investigate if Russia has used Iranian drones to attack civilians in Ukraine.
Even so, Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard has vaguely boasted of providing drones to the world’s top powers. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has extolled the efficacy of the drones and mocked Western hand-wringing over their danger. During state-backed demonstrations to mark the 1979 U.S. Embassy takeover on Friday, crowds waved placards of the triangle-shaped drones as a point of national pride.
