Iran admitted on Saturday for the first time that it has sent drones to Russia, but insisted they were delivered to its ally ahead of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
“We provided Russia with a limited number of drones months before the war in Ukraine,” Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said, quoted by the official IRNA news agency.
Ukraine and its western allies have accused Russia of using Iranian-made drones to conduct attacks in Ukraine in recent weeks. Tehran has repeatedly denied these claims.
Iran has repeatedly denied supplying Russia with weapons for the Ukraine war.
“In a phone conversation with Ukraine’s foreign minister last week, we agreed that if there is evidence (of Moscow’s use of Iranian drones), he will provide it to us,” Amir-Abdollahian said.
“If the Ukrainian side keeps their promise, we can discuss this issue in the coming days and we will consider their evidence,” he added.
Iran’s foreign minister again denied that his country had supplied missiles to Russia, calling the allegations “completely false”.
The Washington Post reported October 16 that Iran is preparing to ship missiles to Russia.
Kyiv said around 400 Iranian drones have already been used against Ukraine’s civilian population and that Moscow has ordered around 2,000.
In response to these transfers, the European Union and the United Kingdom have imposed sanctions on three Iranian generals and a weapons company accused of supplying drones to Russia.
In September, Kyiv decided to severely limit diplomatic relations with Tehran over alleged arms sales to the country.