Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said in remarks on Monday that his country would “not remain indifferent” if shown proof that Russia was using its homemade drones to bomb Ukraine, suggesting that Moscow did not discuss using the drones in the Ukrainian war with Iran and that Tehran disapproved.
Amir-Abdollahian’s remark occurred on the same day that he reiterated the Iranian government’s original stance – that its weapons were not being used in Ukraine at all – and that it was open to discussing the situation with Ukrainian officials. A Foreign Ministry spokesman separately insisted on Monday, “we do not export weapons to either side of the war in Ukraine and our relations with both sides of the war have been friendly.”
Iran is one of Russia’s closest geopolitical allies and has not denied security cooperation, including weapons sales, with Russia. It also has not particularly antagonized Ukraine and publically attempted to maintain neutrality on the Russian invasion, which began in 2014 but began interesting Western powers in February.
Throughout the past month, images coming out of the battlegrounds of Ukraine have documented the Russian military using weapons that appear to clearly be Iranian-made Shahed-136 drones, referred to often as “kamikaze” drones because they essentially function as flying bombs that detonate and cannot be retrieved. They are relatively inexpensive, making it possible to Russia to purchase large quantities in an attempt to overwhelm Ukrainian forces.
If proven, Iran’s involvement in the war would place its drones directly in combat against Turkish Bayraktar drones, much hardier weapons that Ankara has been supplying for months to Ukrainian forces. Iran and Turkey maintain economic ties but have struggled to remain friendly on the geopolitical stage since falling on opposite sides of the neighboring Syrian Civil War.
The government of leftist U.S. President Joe Biden accused Iran last week of sending troops to Crimea, occupied Ukraine, to train Russians on how to use the drones.
“Today we can confirm that Russian military personnel that are based in Crimea have been piloting Iranian UAVs, using them to conduct strikes across Ukraine, including strikes against Kyiv in just recent days,” White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby announced. “We assess that Iranian military personnel were on the ground in Crimea and assisted Russia in these operations. Russia has received dozens of UAVs so far and will likely continue to receive additional shipments in the future.”
Iran vehemently denied the claim.
“We reject groundless claims that drones were supplied [by Iran] to be used in the Ukraine war,” Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani said this weekend.
Amir-Abdollahian, the foreign minister, appeared to inject some doubt in the effusive claim that Iranian drones were not operating in Ukrainian skies on Monday with his addition of the vow that, if they were indeed operating there, Iran would respond.
“If it is proven to us that Iranian drones are being used in the Ukraine war against people, we should not remain indifferent,” Amir-Abdollahian said, according to Reuters.
PressTV, an Iranian English-language state outlet, did not reproduce that particular remark on Monday, instead repeating the denials.
“We have not sold and will not sell any weapons and drones to be used in the war against Ukraine, and cooperation between Iran and Russia will continue without having anything to do with the Ukraine war,” the foreign minister reportedly claimed. He did concede, PressTV, noted, “We have both received weapons from Russia and supplied weapons to Russia in the past, but not in the course of the Ukraine war.”
Amir-Abdollahian also reportedly said that he had suggested that Ukraine should send “military experts” to work with Iranians to verify or disprove the allegations of Shaheds in the war theater. Tehran issued this suggestion while vehemently rejecting a similar proposed United Nations probe into the use of Iranian weapons in Ukraine.
In separate statements, a spokesman for the Iranian Foreign Ministry, Nasser Kan’ani, insisted that relations with Ukraine were “friendly” and that the accusations stemmed from American provocations.
International observers have noted that Amir-Abdollahian’s remarks leave much room for interpretation, not all of it necessarily favorable to Russia.
“Amir-Abdollahian’s latest remarks suggested a shift if not a volte-face,” the U.K.-based network Iran International noted. “But it was unclear if he was implying ‘Iranian drones’ might have reached Russia without any official sanction, or without the specific knowledge of the foreign ministry.”
“Alternatively, some analysts have long argued Iran often employs a tactic of ‘plausible deniability,'” the outlet added.
The Ukrainian government has not shown any doubt as to the origin of the “kamikaze” drones used to attack its territory. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky went as far as to suggest on Monday that Russia offered Iran help with its illegal nuclear weapons program in exchange for support in the Ukraine invasion.
“In eight months of full-scale war, Russia has used almost 4,500 missiles against us. And their stock of missiles is dwindling. Therefore, Russia went looking for affordable weapons in other countries to continue its terror. It found them in Iran,” Zelensky told a conference in Israel.
“I have a question for you – how does Russia pay Iran for this, in your opinion? Is Iran just interested in money?” he asked. “Probably not money at all, but Russian assistance to the Iranian nuclear program. Probably, this is exactly the meaning of their alliance.”
Russia is openly involved in the maintenance and expansion of Iran’s Bushehr nuclear power plant.
Iranian state media boasted of the debut of a new series of “kamikaze drones” in March.
“The new kamikaze drone which is specialized in attacking enemy’s defense systems has been designed and produced by the IRGC’s Ground Force and is capable of carrying a 2.5kg explosive payload over 100 kilometers. It uses a reciprocating engine for propulsion,” the state-run Fars News Agency reported. The IRGC is Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, a U.S.-designated terrorist organization.
“Undoubtedly, drone industry is considered as one of the outstanding and reliable points in increasing authority and defense power of the Islamic Republic of Iran,” Fars quoted Brigadier General Afshin Khajeh Fard, the head of Iran’s Aviation Industries Organization (IAIO), as saying at the time.
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