Iran is preparing to send Russia a slew of additional weapons, Reuters reported Tuesday, as the Iranian government continues to prove a thorn in the side of Ukraine and its Western allies.
Two Iranian officials and a pair of Iranian diplomats told Reuters that the two countries made the deal on Oct. 6. A separate official from an unnamed Western country reportedly confirmed the agreement.
Iran agreed to send Russia surface-to-surface missiles as well as additional drones, as Russian forces continue to use the latter against Ukrainian targets in “kamikaze” attacks.
The deal reportedly involved numerous high-ranking officials within the Iranian government, including First Vice President Mohammad Mokhber, who visited Moscow to work out deliveries of the weapons.
“The Russians had asked for more drones and those Iranian ballistic missiles with improved accuracy, particularly the Fateh and Zolfaghar missiles family,” one of the Iranian diplomats told Reuters. While Western officials will likely be angered by the deal, the diplomat denied that Iran had broken a United Nations Security Council resolution.
“Where they are being used is not the seller’s issue,” the diplomat said. “We do not take sides in the Ukraine crisis like the West. We want an end to the crisis through diplomatic means.”
Both Russia and Iran have denied that Iranian weaponry was used in recent drone attacks. However, American officials disagreed with this assessment, with the State Department telling Reuters that Iranian drones were used in an attack Monday in Kyiv.
