Iran’s foreign minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian insists his country opposes Russia’s war against Ukraine, but was vague Wednesday about whether Tehran’s military cooperation with Moscow would include sales of drones that could carry missiles.
The Iranian foreign minister was vague when asked about U.S. contentions that Russia is about to acquire Iranian drones that could transport missiles.
“We have various types of collaboration with Russia, including in the defense sector,” Abdollahian replied. “But we won’t help either of the sides involved in this war because we believe that it [the war] needs to be stopped.”
The United States believes that Russian officials visited an airfield in Iran recently to view attack-capable drones, U.S. national security advisor Jake Sullivan said on Saturday.
“We assess an official Russian delegation recently received a showcase of Iranian attack-capable UAVs….To our knowledge, this is the first time a Russian delegation has visited this airfield for such a showcase,” Sullivan said in a statement.
The statement included satellite imagery dated June 8 showing Iranian Shahed-191 and Shahed-129 drones flying at the airfield at the same time a Russian delegation transport plane was on the ground. It said similar equipment was showcased for a second Russian visit to the airfield on July 5.