(JustPatriots.com)- Iran has admitted that it had sent drones to Russia but alleges that it was before the start of the Ukraine war. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky accused Tehran of lying, according to a report from defense and national security website 19FortyFive.
Iran’s claim does not align with Western intelligence that revealed Russian officials being shown Iranian-designed drones and weapons in Iran. Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said that only a small number of drones were sent to Russia and the country has not supplied anymore since.
Zelensky denies this claim on his Telegram channel, saying that they are destroying at least 10 Iranian drones per day. He reiterated this point during a television appearance.
“If Iran continues to lie about the obvious, it means the world will make even more efforts to continue to investigate the terrorist cooperation between the Russian and Iranian regimes and what Russia pays Iran for such cooperation,” Zelensky said.
The U.S. agrees with Ukraine and has also accused Tehran of lying, claiming that Iran is preparing to send even more weapons to Russia, including ballistic missiles. U.S. Special Envoy for Iran Robert Malley tweeted information that conflicted with the regime’s narrative.
“They transferred dozens just this summer & have military personnel in occupied Ukraine helping Russia use them against Ukrainian civilians. Confronted with evidence, they need a new policy, not a new story,” Malley wrote on Twitter.
John Kirby, the communications coordinator at the National Security Council, suggested that Iran was directly engaged in the conflict.
“We can confirm that Russian military personnel that are based in Crimea have been piloting Iranian UAVs, using them to conduct strikes across Ukraine, including strikes against Kyiv,” Kirby said, according to CNN.
Officials say that the last shipment to Russia reportedly contained about 450 drones, which have already been used in deadly attacks against Ukrainians. Ukraine claims that they have shot down 300 Iranian drones last week alone.
