Iran will provide Russia with aircraft parts, equipment, and maintenance according to a new agreement between the two countries, Fox News reported.
Another part of the deal is to increase flights between the two countries to 35 per week, which would be a considerable increase given that just 19 countries currently offer direct flights to Russia because of sanctions against it, a consequence of its invasion of Ukraine in late February.
The new deal follows an earlier agreement made between Tehran and Moscow for Iran to provide military drones to Russian forces so that the Kremlin can continue its onslaught, as reported by The Dallas Express.
U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan stated, “Our information further indicates that Iran is preparing to train Russian forces to use these UAVs, with initial training session slated for as soon as early July. It’s unclear whether Iran has delivered any of these UAVs to Russia already.”
“Iran has been a great student of drone technology over the past 20 years, developing its own and reverse-engineering captured U.S. and Israeli technology when presented with an opportunity,” commented Samuel Bendett, a research analyst with the Center for Naval Analyses.
Bendett pointed out to Forbes that the Russians are concerned about recently delivered long-range, surface-to-surface HIMARS artillery rockets provided to Ukraine by the United States. They may need drones to neutralize them.
“At this point, practically all Ukrainian long-range strike capability would be targets for the Russian forces equipped with advanced technology like loitering drones (either their own or Iranian),” he said.
“So once/if this technology is transferred, Russia gains a significant aerial asset that will be unleashed against Ukrainian forces,” Bendett concluded.