Iran, the world’s biggest state sponsor of terrorism, is once again caught smuggling illegal weapons across international borders. This time, Tehran has been found shipping attack drones to Russia amid the ongoing war in Ukraine, the U.S. and Western intelligence disclosed.
Iran used boats and state airlines to supply high-altitude and long-rage bomber drones to Russia, a report in the British newspaper The Guardian revealed Monday. The new Iran-made drones delivered to Russia are high-flying UAVs that can be equipped with precision-guided bombs.
This shipment is separate from over 1,000 Iran-made Shahed kamikaze drones already delivered or pledged to Russia. The Russian military has fired hundreds of Shahed suicide drones to target the Ukrainian power and civilian infrastructure.
The Guardian reported Iran’s drone smuggling operation:
Iran has used boats and a state-owned airline to smuggle new types of advanced long-range armed drones to Russia for use in its war on Ukraine, sources inside the Middle Eastern country have revealed.At least 18 of the drones were delivered to Vladimir Putin’s navy after Russian officers and technicians made a special visit to Tehran in November, where they were shown a full range of Iran’s technologies.On that occasion, the 10-man Russian delegation selected six Mohajer-6 drones, which have a range of around 200km and carry two missiles under each wing, along with 12 Shahed 191 and 129 drones, which also have an air-to-ground strike capability.Unlike the better-known Shahed 131 and 136 drones, which have been heavily used by Russia in kamikaze raids against Ukrainian targets, the higher-flying drones are designed to deliver bombs and return to base intact. (…)Most of the drones sent to Russia were secretly picked up by an Iranian vessel from a base on the coast of the Caspian Sea and then transferred at sea to a Russian navy boat, sources said. Others were sent on a state-owned Iranian airline, they added. (,…)Iran has also sent technicians to Moscow to help get the drones into service. The sources revealed that three Iranian officials a drone – 54 officials in all – helped integrate the smuggled craft into the Russian military.
The Iranian regime’s use of state-run civilian airliners for weapons transport is nothing new. Tehran has been deploying passenger aircraft to transport fighters and weapons to proxy terrorist groups. Iran’s Islamic Guard-owned Meraj Airlines regularly supplies weapons to Lebanese Hezbollah terror militia and Yemen-based Ansar Allah-Houthi terrorist group.
The revelations about drone smuggling coincide with the new evidence showing Iran’s continued weapons supply to Yemen’s Houthi jihadists. On Monday, the British government confirmed that its navy captured two large shipments of Iranian weapons bound for the Houthi jihad fighters.
“Weapons seized by Royal Navy ship HMS Montrose have been presented to the UN as evidence, linking an Iranian state organisation – the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) – to the smuggling of weapon systems in violation of a UN Security Council Resolution,” the UK government said in a statement.
The Iranian drone shipments come as Russia reportedly gears up for its much-anticipated offensive in Ukraine. On Monday. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg “confirmed a new Russian offensive in Ukraine had begun and the organisation sees ‘no sign whatsoever’ that Vladimir Putin is ‘preparing for peace,'” the British TV channel Sky News reported.
Following President Putin’s call for a mobilization in late September, an estimated 300,000 new conscripts are expected to join the Russian ground offensive. “Moscow’s forces have been pressing in the east of Ukraine while bolstering their defensive lines in the south,” the Associated Press noted Tuesday.
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