According to reports from the social network of the People’s Mujahideen Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) within the Islamic Republic, “Iran’s UAV [unmanned aerial vehicle] The sale contract to Russia includes several attack drones, including the Shahed-129, Mohajer-6, and the Shahed-136 and Shahed-131 suicide drones.” The MEK is part of the umbrella organization of the National Council of Resistance of Iran.
The NCRI file states, “Tehran has sold more than 3,500 UAVs to Russia. Most of them were manufactured at the factories of the Ministry of Defense, while others were produced at the factories of the Iranian Aerospace Industries Association (IASIA).”
The claim that the theocratic government provided more than 3,500 drones to Russia shows a dramatic increase in the Iranian regime’s support for Putin’s war machine.
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An unmanned aerial vehicle is launched during a military exercise at an undisclosed location in Iran on August 25, 2022. (West Asia News Agency/Reuters/File)
Recently, Ukraine said that about 400 drones have already been used by Russia, out of a total supply of about 2,000 weapons. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced the downing of 223 drones manufactured by the Iranian regime.
Last week, Zelensky stood in the capital of Kiev next to an apparently downed Iranian Shahed drone.
Iran’s drone strikes are a source of grave concern for Western countries, including the US, which are seeking to aid Ukraine in its efforts to save civilian lives and expel Russian forces from its territory.
According to the NCRI report, “Some of the UAVs sent to Russia originate from the IRGC’s Qadr Air Base [Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps].”
The Trump administration has sanctioned the IRGC as a foreign terrorist entity.
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The report said: “When Qassem Soleimani, the former IRGC Quds Force commander, was killed by the US on January 6, 2020, his body was transferred to Qadr Base. Qadr Base has its own hangars and special services. The management of Mehrabad Airport does not interfere in its affairs. The Quds Force uses the Qadr base and aircraft companies linked to the IRGC to send weapons to Syria, Iraq and Lebanon.”
The EU and US governments have designated Soleimani as a terrorist, who was responsible for the deaths of more than 600 US servicemen in the Middle East.
When asked about the NCRI report and whether the US plans to cut off its nuclear deal negotiations with the Iranian regime in Vienna as punishment for Tehran for selling drones to Russia, a US State Department spokesman said on Fox News Digital that: “We have been warning since July that Iran was planning to sell UAVs to Russia for use against Ukraine. In September, Russia moved UAVs it bought from Iran to Crimea for use in its war against Ukraine.”
The spokesman continued, “We can confirm that Russian military personnel based in Crimea are piloting Iranian UAVs and using them to conduct mobile attacks across Ukraine, including attacks against Kiev in recent days. We estimate that Iranian military personnel were on the ground in Crimea and assisted Russia in these operations.”
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, center, and Russian President Vladimir Putin greet each other as Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi looks on during their meeting in Tehran, Iran, on July 19, 2022. (Office of Supreme Leader of Iran via AP )
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The spokesman added: “Russia has received dozens of UAVs so far and will likely continue to receive additional deliveries in the future. Additionally, in light of Russia’s ongoing supply shortfalls, we are concerned that Russia may also seek to acquire advanced conventional weapons from Iran , such as surface-to-surface missiles, which will almost certainly be used to support Russia’s war against Ukraine.We will continue to use all tools at our disposal to delay, deter, deter and impose costs to the bodies involved in such activities.”
The NCRI dossier obtained by Fox News Digital could carry weight in foreign capitals and in Washington. In 2002, the NCRI first revealed that the Iranian regime had built nuclear facilities near Natanz and Arak.
Members of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard march during a parade in Tehran, Iran. (Reuters)
Shahin Gobadi, a spokesman for the National Council of Resistance of Iran in Paris, told Fox News Digital, “It is more imperative for the European Union and the US to abandon their regime-waiting approach. The clerical regime’s misguided intervention in hotspots in the Middle East and Europe are well established.”
He continued, “It is time for it to be held accountable for its gross human rights abuses at home, which now include the killing of teenage protesters. Continued engagement only emboldens the regime to spill blood in Iran and further destabilize the region and the world. The regime of the clergy demands persistent violation of UN resolutions [it] to use the snapback mechanism to re-impose the six UN Security Council resolutions.”
The emergency sanctions provision refers to the penalty for Iran’s violations of UN resolutions related to its alleged nuclear weapons program.
Critics of the Biden administration’s Iran policy, such as the NCRI, oppose the so-called Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action — the official name for the Iran nuclear deal — because they argue it will fund terrorism and fail to prevent Tehran from developing atomic bomb.
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According to a think tank study published by the FDD, the nuclear deal would pour up to $275 billion into Iran’s coffers in the first year of the deal and would merely impose a temporary limit on Tehran’s ability to build a nuclear weapons device.
Gobadi said: “Warfare and terror financing have been a mainstay of the clerical regime’s rule in order to cover up and supplement its repression at home, something the regime desperately needed, especially in light of the ongoing revolution in Iran. “
“This dangerous development is also the byproduct of the culture of impunity the regime has enjoyed despite its gross human rights abuses at home and its brazen and destabilizing actions beyond Iran’s borders,” he continued.
When asked about the NCRI report on drone sales to Russia, the Islamic Republic of Iran’s foreign ministry and its diplomatic mission to the UN declined to comment.
Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, right, attends a press conference with Josep Borrell, the European Union’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, center, at the Foreign Ministry headquarters in the Iranian capital, Tehran, on 25 June 2022. (Atta Kenare/AFP via Getty Images)
Last week, the Iranian regime categorically denied that it has signed arms deals with Moscow. Russia denies using Iranian drones.
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Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said the allegations were “baseless” and asked Ukraine to “present any evidence to support the allegations”. Amir-Abdollahian added: “If… it becomes clear to us that Russia has used Iranian drones in the war against Ukraine, we will certainly not be indifferent to this matter.”
Tehran is no stranger to supplying weapons and fighters to dictatorships in the Middle East and its authoritarian allies around the world. Fox News Digital reported in 2018 that Iran produced 107mm chemical missiles used in Syrian regime attacks against civilians.
Fox News Digital has reached out to the Department of Defense for comment.
Benjamin Weinthal reports on Israel, Iran, Syria, Turkey and Europe for Fox News Digital. Benjamin has contributed articles to The Wall Street Journal, The Jerusalem Post, Foreign Policy, Haaretz, Forbes and The New York Post. You can follow Benjamin on Twitter @BenWeinthal.
