Russian officials visited Iran twice to examine drones, White House says

Tehran refutes report as ‘baseless’ and ‘in direction of political intentions and purposes’

The White House said it has intelligence that Russian officials recently visited an airfield in Iran twice to examine weapons-capable drones to use them in its ongoing war against Ukraine.

Russian officials reportedly visited Kashan airfield in central Iran on 8 June and 5 July to view the drones suggesting Moscow’s “interest” in acquiring the equipment.

The Biden administration released satellite imagery which it claimed showed Iran’s Shahed-191 and Shahed-129 drones being displayed in flight on the airfield, while a Russian delegation transport plane was on the ground.

White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan on Saturday said the administration has “information that the Iranian government is preparing to provide Russia with several hundred UAVs [unmanned aerial vehicles]”.

“We assess an official Russian delegation recently received a showcase of Iranian attack-capable UAVs. We are releasing these images captured in June showing Iranian UAVs that the Russian government delegation saw that day,” Mr Sullivan added.

“This suggests ongoing Russian interest in acquiring Iranian attack-capable UAVs.”

He added that according to intelligence reports officials believe the June visit “was the first time a Russian delegation has visited this airfield for such a showcase”.

The report was released as president Joe Biden met with leaders of six Arab Gulf countries along with Egypt, Jordan and Iraq for a summit.

At the summit, Mr Biden told his counterparts that the US was committed to the Middle East and “will not walk away and leave a vacuum to be filled by China, Russia or Iran”.

The Biden administration last Monday claimed Iran was preparing to provide Russia with “hundreds” of UAVs, including weapons-capable drones.

However, Iran's foreign minister Hossein Amirabdollahian, in a phone call with his Ukrainian counterpart Dmytro Kuleba, called the reports of Tehran selling drones to Moscow “baseless”.

“These sort of claims parallel with Biden’s visit to occupied Palestine, or Israel, are in direction of political intentions and purposes,” the website of Iran’s foreign ministry quoted Mr Amirabdollahian as saying.

“We oppose any move that could lead to continuation and intensifying conflicts.”

An Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson on Friday added: “At the beginning of the trip, he accused Iran of supporting the killing of Ukrainians! Lies are a thriving coin among American politicians! Overturning the truth for evil purposes.”

Mr Biden is looking to strengthen coordination among Middle East allies’ response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Meanwhile, Russian president Vladimir Putin is set to visit Iran next week where he will attend a meeting with state heads of Iran and Turkey.