The decision by Russia and Iran to massively increase military cooperation under the auspices of the war in Ukraine is already in concrete implementation stages, according to a report by the "Wall Street Journal" today (Sunday).
The American newspaper revealed that a plan to establish a factory capable of producing at least 6,000 Iranian drones has already been launched. Sources from "a country that is in the US camp" told the newspaper that this is a step that probably teaches about increasing cooperation between Moscow and Tehran.
Today's report stated that as part of the progress in the plan to establish the plant, an Iranian delegation from Ramat Derg flew to Moscow in early January to closely assess the intended site and to summarize additional details that would allow the project to be lifted.
It was also written, according to the same sources, that "the two countries are interested in assembling a faster UAV that can pose new challenges to the Ukrainian air defense system."
An exercise in the Iranian drone array, photo: /WANA Agency/Reuters
According to the sources, the intention is to build a joint model of the Shahad-136 UAV with a new engine that will allow it to fly faster and with a greater range. The fear is that beyond the challenge it poses to Ukraine, it will also pose a new threat to other countries that are in conflict with Iran.
As you may recall, in recent months Russia has already begun to use Iranian suicide drones on the Ukrainian front. Last December, senior White House officials told NBC that Iranian military aid would be rewarded by the Russians through a significant and even "unprecedented" cooperation agreement regarding the support that Iran would receive at the level of knowledge The same report also states, according to a senior official in the Biden administration, that this is a "partnership that poses a threat not only to Ukraine but also to Iran's neighbors in the region" and that Russia aims to develop with Iran a production line of weapons that will be established in Russia itself, and possibly even produce Attack UAV together.
This is a "military partnership in the full sense of the word", as the sources said at the time, which will be manifested, among other things, in the transfer of Russian Sukhoi-35 attack aircraft to Iran.
and training of Iranian pilots.
The Biden administration confirmed these details a few months ago and said that there is indeed an "unprecedented and comprehensive" cooperation between the two countries,
Now it seems that the long-term phase is underway.
The delegation that arrived in Russia, according to the officials "who are in the American camp", arrived on January 5 in a town called Yalboga, about 960 km east of Moscow. According to the officials, they toured the intended site where the factory will be established in the coming years.
The Iranian delegation was headed by a senior officer in the IRGC's Air and Space Force, Brigadier General Abdullah Maharabi - who heads the research department in the force - and Kassem Dambandian - CEO of the Quds Aviation organization, which is considered one of the most significant bodies in the defense industries in Iran.
The sources who spoke with the newspaper stated that the agreement between Russia and Iran is estimated to be worth about one billion dollars, and that the establishment of the plant is only the implementation of a part of it, and that other parts of it include the transfer of weapon systems from the front in Ukraine to Iranian hands so that they can do "reverse engineering".
In the meantime, it seems that in the last day the Russians came close to full control of the Ukrainian city of Hamut in the east of the country.
Even more so for Ukraine.
The President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky stated yesterday (Saturday) that the situation on the front in the east of the country has become particularly difficult in recent days because the Russians are pouring in many forces.
"I have said several times that the situation on the front is difficult and will become more difficult, and now I say it again," Zelensky said.
"The invader is deploying more and more forces to breach our defense system," he added.
According to the British Ministry of Defence, the Ukrainian soldiers remaining in Behemoth are being increasingly captured as the Russian ring around the city tightens.
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