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.
Log in to comment