Iran
US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan speaks during a press briefing on July 11, 2022 in Washington. Photo: Evan Vucci/AP
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The White House on Monday said Iran is set to deliver “several hundreds” of drones with combat weapon capabilities to Russia to be used in its ongoing war in Ukraine.
US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said information obtained by Washington indicates that Russian forces are facing challenges sustaining their weapons after they suffered significant losses in Ukraine five months into the fight.
“The Iranian government is preparing to provide Russia with up to several hundred UAVs, including weapons-capable UAVs on an expedited timeline,” Sullivan told reporters.
"Our information further indicates that Iran is preparing to train Russian forces to use these UAVs, with initial training sessions slated to begin as soon as early July," he added, noting that it was unclear whether Tehran had delivered any of the weapons to Moscow yet.
Sullivan's remarks come a week ahead of Russian President Vladimir Putin's visit to Tehran where the two countries will discuss "planning for expansion of economic ties” between the two countries, an Iranian lawmaker told state media on Tuesday.
The US official also noted that Iran has previously provided similar unmanned aerial vehicles to Houthi rebels in Yemen to launch attacks on Saudi Arabia before a ceasefire was reached earlier in the year.
Iran's foreign ministry spokesperson Nasser Kanaani refused to confirm or deny Sullivan's remarks, but said that Iran and Russia's cooperation "in the field of some new technologies dates back to before the start of the war in Ukraine," according to Iran's Mehr News Agency.
Iran has allegedly smuggled weapons to Houthis in Yemen over the years.
The UK on Thursday said it had confiscated an Iranian arms shipment being sent to Houthi rebels, a claim that Tehran denied.
The Wall Street Journal in January said the US had found "thousands" of recently seized weapons in the Arabian Sea that likely came from a single port in Iran.
Yemen has been in a civil war since late 2014 between Iran-backed Shiite Houthi rebels and the Yemeni government, supported by the Saudi-led coalition.
The Houthis took over Sana’a in 2014, prompting the Saudi-led military intervention the following year and igniting a war that has caused what the United Nations terms the "world's worst humanitarian crisis."
Updated at 5:37pm
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