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The Biden administration has accused Russia of moving to provide advanced military aid to Iran, including air defense systems, helicopters and fighter jets, as part of deepening cooperation between the two nations as Tehran provides drones to support Vladimir Putin invasion of Ukraine.
White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby on Friday cited US intelligence assessments of the allegations, saying Russia was offering Iran “an unprecedented level of military and technical support that transforms their relationship into a full-fledged defense partnership.”
Kirby said Russia and Iran are considering raising a drone assembly line in Russia for the conflict in Ukraine, while Russia is training Iranian pilots on the Sukhoi Su-35 fighter and that Iran could receive deliveries of the aircraft within the year.
“These fighter jets will significantly strengthen Iran’s air force relative to its regional neighbors,” Kirby said.
The U.S. allegations are part of a deliberate U.S. effort to encourage Russia’s global isolation, in this case targeting Arab nations that have sought to contain Iran’s regional malevolence and have not taken a strong stand against Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Since Russia’s military resources were taxed by the invasion of Ukraine and sanctions against it because of the war, Western powers are providing military equipment to Ukraine to defend itself, increasing the cost to Putin, reminiscent of the drain on resources during the “Star Wars” contest between the US and the former Soviet Union, when Moscow saw its military coffers depleted.
Pavel Pavlov/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images
Earlier this year, the Biden administration accused Saudi Arabia of siding with Russia in the conflict pastoral cuts the OPEC+ cartel to raise the price of oil, crucial to financing Moscow’s war effort. Saudi Arabia and Iran have been on opposite sides in the years-long proxy war in Yemen.
Kirby said the arms transfers were in violation of United Nations Security Council resolutions and that the U.S. “will use the tools at our disposal to expose and disrupt these activities.”
The concern over a “deepening and growing defense partnership” between Russia and Iran comes as the Biden administration has repeatedly accused Iran of aiding Russia in its invasion of Ukraine.
The administration says Iran sold hundreds of attack drones to the Russians over the summer. On Friday, Kirby reiterated the administration’s belief that Iran is considering selling hundreds of ballistic missiles to Russia, but acknowledged that the U.S. does not have “perfect insight into Iran’s thinking as to why” the deal did not materialize.
Russia – because of tough sanctions – is turning to Iran for weapons, including military drones, which are used to kill civilians, British UN Ambassador Barbara Woodward told the UN Security Council on Friday. Woodward called for a UN investigation, arguing that both countries were breaking international law with the rogue partnership.
Woodward accused Russia of trying to get more weapons from Iran, including hundreds of ballistic missiles, in return for “unprecedented levels of military and technical support” to Tehran.
“We are concerned that Russia intends to provide Iran with more advanced military components, which will allow Iran to strengthen its weapons capability,” she said. “That is why it is imperative that the truth about Iran’s supply to Russia be exposed and investigated by the UN as soon as possible.”
“Ukraine demands that Iran immediately stop supplying Russia with weapons used to kill civilians and destroy critical infrastructure and abide by Security Council resolutions,” Sergiy Kislytsa, Ukraine’s ambassador to the UN, told CBS News on Friday.
At a UN Security Council meeting on Friday called by Russia to assess the impact of Western weapons being smuggled into Ukraine, Russia’s ambassador to the UN, Vasily Nebenzia, again denied that Iran was supplying Ukraine with weapons.
“The military-industrial complex in Russia can work perfectly and does not need anyone’s help, while the Ukrainian military industry is basically non-existent and is helped by Western industry and Western companies,” he said.
In response to the meeting, Richard Mills, the US deputy ambassador to the UN, told fellow diplomats on Friday that “what we are seeing is – frustrated on the battlefield, Russia has resorted to destroying Ukraine’s critical and energy infrastructure from afar, causing enormous suffering to civilians like us.” heard only three days ago, and defying the call of the international community to end the aggression”.
“It is Russia that cynically called for this meeting, alleging an illegal conspiracy to transfer arms from Ukraine.” In fact, as others at this table have noted, it is Russia that is complicit in Iran’s illegal transfer of drones to Russia. Mills added.
The White House says Russia did also turned to North Korea for artillery during the nine-month war. North Korea has denied the claim.
The White House has repeatedly sought to highlight Russia’s reliance on Iran and North Korea, another widely isolated nation on the international stage, for support as it wages its war against Ukraine.
British Foreign Secretary James Cleverley called Iran-Russia cooperation a “desperate alliance.”
“Iran is now one of Russia’s biggest military backers,” he said. “Their abhorrent deals have resulted in the Iranian regime sending hundreds of drones to Moscow, which have been used to attack Ukraine’s critical infrastructure and kill civilians.”
“In return, Russia is offering military and technical support to the Iranian regime, which will increase the risk it poses to our partners in the Middle East and to international security.”
The Biden administration recently unveiled sanctions against Iranian firms and entities involved in the transfer of Iranian drones to Russia for use in Ukraine. It all comes as the administration condemned the Islamic Republic’s violent crackdown on protests that erupted across Iran following the September death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini while being held by morality police.
Even as the White House accused Iran of supporting Russia’s war effort, the administration has not given up on the possibility of reviving the 2015 Iran nuclear deal — which the Trump administration scrapped in 2018. The pact, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA, would have provided Tehran with billions in in the form of relief from sanctions in exchange for the country agreeing to return its nuclear program to the limits set by the 2015 accord.
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