An internal rift has surfaced in Iran over the delivery of deadly drones to Russia for use in Ukraine, with a prominent conservative cleric and newspaper editor saying Russia is the clear aggressor in the war and the delivery should stop.
A former Iranian ambassador to Moscow has also suggested that the Foreign Ministry may have been kept in the dark by both the Kremlin and the Iranian military.
Iran has denied for more than two months that it sold the drones to Russia, even though they were used to target power plants and civilian infrastructure, but said over the weekend it supplied a small number of drones before the war began, a statement that was rejected by the USA and Ukraine.
The row over the drones reflects a broader foreign policy debate in Tehran about the risks of developing close ties with Moscow. Also unusual is that the criticism of the Iranian government is led by a conservative cleric and a newspaper editor.
In remarks echoed by other Iranian newspapers, Masih Mohajeri, writing on the front page of the Jomhouri-e-Islami newspaper, highlighted three things the government should have done: the party that started the war, that is, Russia , advising to comply with international regulations prohibiting encroachment on the territory of other countries; told Russia at the start of the war that it had no right to use Iran-supplied drones in Ukraine; maintained stronger ties with the occupied country.
Addressing Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, he added: “After the war in Ukraine started, why didn’t you tell Russia that it has no right to use Iranian drones in the war in Ukraine? Furthermore, why didn’t you openly condemn Russia for starting the war and why didn’t you step up efforts to mediate between the two sides to end this evil war?”
He said Iran could have played that role without damaging its ties with Russia.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian. Photo: Wana News Agency/PortalAbdollahian ended weeks of Iran’s evasion over the drones over the weekend by admitting – while standing next to Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Vershinin on the sidelines of an international conference – that he had deployed a small number of drones before the war. He said that if Ukraine proved that its drones would be used in the war, Iran would not be indifferent.
Ukraine believes Moscow has acquired 2,400 drones from Iran, including the distinctive triangular Shahed-136 “kamikaze” drone, which explodes on impact.
In his newspaper article, Mohajeri described the foreign minister’s change of course as a “good omen”. “You still have time to change the policy on the war in Ukraine,” he said. “You shouldn’t put all your eggs in the Russian basket. This method contradicts the “neither East nor West” policy that is at the core of the Islamic Republic of Iran’s foreign policy.”
He added: “The least … Iran could have done in the war in Ukraine was to negotiate with both sides first, forming a mediation committee, to get them to agree to a ceasefire and an end to the war.” . Even in the days when the war began, Tehran could have told Moscow that it had no right to use the drones provided by Iran in the war against Ukraine.”
Robert Malley, the US special envoy to Iran, dismissed Iran’s admission. “The evidence is clear: the drones sold to Russia are being used against Ukrainian civilians. Perhaps Iranian leaders thought they could escape the consequences by secretly supporting Russia’s brutal aggression, but they couldn’t.”
A former Iranian ambassador to Moscow, Nematollah Izadi, said there did not appear to have been adequate cooperation between the Iranian state’s military and diplomatic wings, which may have left the Foreign Ministry in the dark. It seemed as if part of the government found it profitable to sell drones to Moscow for use in war or other purposes, Izadi said “We seem to have succumbed to a deception operation by Russia which, in my opinion, does not serve our national interests at all.”
However, Seyed Mohammad Marandi, an unofficial adviser to the Iranian negotiating team on the future of the Iran nuclear deal, spelled out opposition to Ukraine within sections of the regime by criticizing Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for congratulating the newly-elect israeli government. “When Zelenskyy says ‘real democracy in action’ and that the two regimes ‘share common values’, what he means is that they both treat oppressed ethnic Russian Ukrainians and indigenous peoples of Palestine with similar racial contempt,” he tweeted.
Anti-regime street protests, which began after the death in September of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, who was arrested by police for allegedly violating the country’s strict hijab law, appeared to be slowing, but over the weekend Two Iranian international sports teams – the Iranian beach football team and the wrestling team – refused to celebrate their victories.
The scorer of Iran’s decisive goal in the Intercontinental Beach Soccer Cup final against Brazil symbolically cut his hair off after his shot went in the net, showing solidarity with the protesters. Many of the spectators in Dubai either booed the national anthem or sang against the government in front of the stadium.
A fierce debate rages within the regime over the appropriate response to the protests, ranging from some Conservative MPs calling for executions to others calling for self-reflection on how the principles of the revolution have lost traction for a generation.
Some leaders openly admit their confusion. Tourism and Culture Minister Ezzatollah Zarghami said Sunday one of the interrogators of the thousands arrested protesters admitted he did not understand them. “I’ve been interrogating major political figures throughout my life, and in the last few days I’ve interrogated hundreds of people,” Zarghami said, the investigator told him. “That was my most difficult interrogation because I don’t understand what they’re saying and they don’t understand what I’m saying. No matter how hard I try, I can’t.”