In the coming days, Russia and Iran are going to sign an agreement for the sale of hundreds of attack drones (unmanned aerial vehicles) manufactured by Iran for the benefit of the war in Ukraine, Israeli officials have confirmed.
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During the last summer, the two countries signed the first deal, in which several hundred Iranian drones were sold to Russia, which were used to attack targets in Ukraine. The consideration for the deal - several hundred million euros - was paid to Iran in cash. Israeli officials said that Russia preferred to pay the amount in full over deals A barter that would tie her to a broad commitment vis-a-vis Iran.
The previous transaction was completed in full.
All the drones have been supplied to Russia, and all the consideration has already been paid. As far as is known, Russia has used all the drones it received, or the vast majority of them.
Therefore, in recent weeks, it engaged in intensive negotiations with Iran, with the aim of forging another deal that would allow it to continue attacks on targets in Ukraine - mainly on infrastructure facilities.
A UAV commits suicide over the skies of Odessa, Ukraine
At the end of the week, senior officials in the Ukrainian army said that as part of the additional deal, Russia will purchase 1,700 new attack drones. Israel is familiar with various figures, according to which this deal will also include the transfer of several hundred drones at a cost of hundreds of millions of euros to be paid to Iran in cash.
This deal is expected to be implemented in the coming days, which will allow Russia to increase the amount of its attacks in Ukraine and the level of their accuracy.
In the negotiations between the countries, Russia also expressed interest in establishing a production line for attack drones on its soil.
Iran gave its consent to this, but it is estimated that from the signing of an agreement on the subject, it will take about two years before the Russian factory will be able to serially produce high-quality drones. Russia has also expressed interest in the purchase of TKK (surface-to-surface missiles) from Iran, but as far as is known, such a deal not yet formulated.
The Battle of Attitudes in Israel
In Israel, they are also troubled by the compensation that Iran will receive from Russia as part of the aid for its war in Ukraine.
In this context, there are several approaches in the security establishment: the radical approach led by the Mossad (and supported by various elements in the AMN), holds that the deep cooperation between the countries will also affect Israel's security.
The main concerns in this regard are the possible transfer in the future of hypersonic missiles (which reach a speed five times or more than the speed of sound) from Russia to Iran, and helping Iran's efforts to establish itself in Syria while possibly limiting the air force's activities in the northern arena.
Israelis are watching with concern.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei (archive), photo: AP
The more moderate approach led by the Intelligence Division of the IDF is that Russia does indeed cooperate with Iran, but with a "business only" approach. Thus, it transferred to Tehran American weapons it captured, for the purposes of "backing the Hindus" and it also intends to transfer to Iran airplanes The Sukhoi-35 is advancing, but it avoids allowing Iran too much dominance in the region.
AMN believes that Moscow will not deviate from its policy of opposing Iran's possession of nuclear weapons, and will focus most of its transactions with it on commercial-economic areas, among other things, to avoid another confrontation with the US and the West.
The drone deals between Moscow and Tehran already have an impact on what is happening in the Middle East as well. The intense preoccupation with the issue and the Russian attacks on high-quality targets in Ukraine (despite the low rate of drones that hit, the majority were intercepted on their way) caused an increased interest in such drones among a variety of parties - from Hezbollah in Lebanon and to various organizations in Iraq.
Iran has a great interest in the extensive supply of such advanced anti-nuclear weapons in order to create a constant deterrence and threat to its enemies in the region, especially Israel.
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