Iran aiding Russia in Ukraine

Haaretz

WASHINGTON – Iranian military personnel were on the ground in Crimea aiding the Russian pilots behind the drone bombardment of Ukraine, a senior U.S. government spokesperson confirmed Thursday.

“Iran is now directly engaged on the ground,” National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby told a briefing. He noted that a “relatively small number” of Iranians were dispatched to Crimea in hopes of improving the drones’ lethality.

“The information we have is that the Iranians have put trainers and tech support in Crimea, but it’s the Russians who are doing the piloting,” Kirby said, adding that the Biden administration was considering imposing new sanctions on Iran and looking for ways to make it harder for Tehran to sell such weapons to Russia.

As recently as Monday, Russia launched dozens of kamikaze drones on targets in Kyiv and other locations throughout Ukraine, striking energy infrastructure and killing several civilians. Kyiv alleged the attacks were carried out with Iranian-made Shahed-136 drones, one month after Ukraine’s military claimed that it encountered an Iranian-supplied suicide drone used by Russia on the battlefield. Iran denies supplying the drones.

“Russia has received dozens of UAVs so far, and will likely continue to receive additional shipments in the future,” Kirby said, though stressed that the United States does not believe that Russia’s use of Iranian drones will change the course of the war.

Kirby further acknowledged the U.S. concern that given Moscow’s ongoing weapons shortage, “Russia may also seek to acquire advanced conventional weapons from Iran, such as surface-to-surface missiles, that will almost certainly be used to support the war against Ukraine.”

When asked about Ukraine’s request for defense systems from Israel, which it has since rejected, Kirby noted that the Department of Defense is “looking hard at what’s in the realm of possible.” He stressed, though, Israel’s “sovereign” decision on how it responds to such requests and that it can do what it wants to preserve its national security “without judgement.”

Kirby further reiterated statements made by senior administration officials in recent days that re-entering the 2015 Iran nuclear deal is not the administration’s focus, but instead holding Iran accountable for the arms sale to Russia. Senior U.S. officials had said in past days that instead of JCPOA talks, its attention was dedicated to supporting the ongoing widespread protests throughout the country.

Well, looks like I was wrong about China helping out. But Iran helping Russia is all the same an issue.

Yeah, I saw this earlier. This shit just looks like it’s getting worse and worse and more drawn out.

Not surprising. We have our allies, they have theirs.

How many stories have we heard of Americans and Europeans going to Ukraine to help fight?

Yup, this is how World Wars happen. Everyone is messing with each other all the time but then the web grows too far, suddenly a leader is killed, and the alliance the have with a larger power forces a greater action.

What happens when Israel assassinates a major leader of Iran, and Russia moves their fleet into the Mediterranean?

Obviously this is exaggerating a lot, but still...history is full of all kinds of crazy stuff happening. I take a sick comfort in knowing the world is a lot smaller than it used to be and there's a lot of money to lose when we fight, and that keeps people in line.

@mrbojangles25: I mean we live in the most interesting times in history, of course I’m bias. But the uk just had a prime minister step down in 6 weeks.

The us is a powder keg and everyone is going crazy.

And this war is definitely not fing off anytime soon.

I see it too man. Russians are dipping too avoid the draft.

24/7 news cycle of war crimes

Just need one global disaster or one terror attack that just sets it all off.

@Mercenary848: yeah the worst part is every time I want to cry foul, I feel like I have to either check myself or preface it with "I know my *insert country of origin* isn't blameless, but..." lol.

You're already starting your argument on bad footing because you can't criticize drone use without someone saying "Yeah well Obama used more drone strikes and killed more civilians with them than any other president" and they're not wrong.

I mean we are all up to foul stuff, if you're major power at least. And even if you are not.

Just found out that Ukraine has been bombarding Russian-majority territories of Ukraine for years now. Years! And we don't hear anything about it. I still need to verify that because it has a tinge of pro-Russian sentiment to it, but you know, it's a war, both sides are up to nasty shenanigans, to put it lightly. Dumping white phosphorous on cities with civilians, thermobaric munitions, etc.

Corporate news media, social media, and certain aspects of the internet are to blame. I know that's almost a cliché response at this point but the fourth estate is seriously failing us.

@mrbojangles25: seriously. I think I go a year or two where I disconnect from all media, and then I have times like this where I’m constantly drinking it all in.

WW3 def keeps my eyes open

Considering that the Ukrainians are thrashing the Russian army, I have a feeling that the Israelis would really mess Russia up.

There are just too many of these goddamn apes running around. Look at it, they are everywhere, billions! Someone oughta do something about that...

Hah! I suppose that is an obvious answer for a country with a super-awesome military that's more or less been at various states of conflict since the mid-1900's.

I think I was more referring more to the global, political consequences.

COVID tried 😋

As to your points @Mercenary848 I think a comedian said it, and I'm not sure of the exact line, but the gist of it was this:

"Planes crashed into some buildings in 2001, and nothing has gotten better since"

It's a bit dramatic, but in a lot of ways it feels true.

• We've seen the rise of far-right politics in the US: first from misled pro-war sentiments, then the Tea Party, and now the borderline fascists that are MAGA. This has spread worldwide as well, with various causes (but all generally stemming from fear of "the other").
• Financial stability has been pretty rocky, with a recession in 2008, a recession in 2022, and a cost of living that is outpacing wage increases across the board.
• Trust in the government has fallen, and for good reason. Between Bush lying to us and taking us to war, Obama not being the savior we all hoped, and Trump being a con-man and downright terrible person, there's just not a lot of things to be inspired by.
• Media has devolved into a capitalist byproduct that puts profits ahead of duty. I know businesses need to make money, but I think they got greedy and now it feels like there is no outlet we can trust. This issue is further compounded by the general lack of critical thinking skills among people. They read something and if they like what they read they agree, and if not they think it is a lie.

As for disaster, I am personally hoping for a giant meteor. I don't think mankind should be responsible for our own downfall, I just think we should be taken off the board in one fell swoop. I think a lot of folks out there, after the initial panic, would probably feel relieved.

I don't know if anything will bring us together and help us do what we need to do. Not as long as capitalism and corporations are the driving force of the world.

@mrbojangles25: Yeah, post 9/11 hysteria never ended

I guess that means Republicans also love Iran now too.

History is also full of people ignoring the evidence leading up to it and going along with the spoon fed "the other guy is just crazy" type stories. The US didn't enter the first world war because of the Lusitania, we were taking part in WWII before Japan ever bombed Pearl Harbor, and Putin didn't suddenly go insane and decide to try to invade Europe. Big things escalate from smaller ones, and Russia didn't suddenly wake up one morning feeling like starting a war without any provocation. You would have to have the critical thinking skills of a 5 year old to believe it's that simple.

We entered WW1 because of the continued submarine attacks. WW2 we did not enter until after Pearl Harbor. The lend lease program did supply arms etc to eventual allies but to say we were taking part in WW2 is not correct. Putin wants the Soviet Union back. There was nothing small about what he's been attempting. Blaming others for what he's doing is ridiculous.

i think it's pretty funny that a "superpower" <snicker> has to rely on imported weapons from iran as it's so dysfunctional it can't manufacture its own good ones.