Iran revealed on Saturday that it supplied drones to Russia before Russian troops invaded Ukraine in February 2022. “
We supplied Russia with a limited number of drones, months before the war in Ukraine
” , Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian announced on Saturday, quoted by the official Irna agency.
This is the first time that the minister has mentioned the delivery of drones to Russia.
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In recent weeks, kyiv and its Western allies have accused Russia of using Iranian-made drones to carry out attacks in Ukraine.
Tehran has repeatedly denied these claims.
The head of Iranian diplomacy, however, said he was ready to examine any evidence of the use of Iranian drones in the Ukrainian conflict.
“
During a telephone conversation with the Ukrainian foreign minister last week, we agreed that if there was proof
(of the use of Iranian drones by Moscow, editor’s note)
, he would provide it to us
”, has clarified Hossein Amir-Abdolahian.
"
If the Ukrainian side keeps its promise
(to hold talks with Iran, editor's note)
, we can examine this issue in the coming days and we will take their evidence into account
," he added.
In addition, the Iranian minister again denied that his country had supplied missiles to Russia, judging these accusations "
completely false
".
kyiv claimed that around 400 Iranian drones had already been used against the Ukrainian population and that Moscow had ordered around 2,000.
Read alsoIranian drones, the new nightmare of the Ukrainian army
In response, the EU and UK announced new sanctions against Iran, targeting three generals and an arms company "
responsible for supplying Russia with suicide drones
" to bomb Ukraine.
In September, kyiv decided to drastically reduce diplomatic relations with Tehran due to alleged arms deliveries to Moscow.