After months of denials, Iran admitted for the first time that it had provided a "limited number" of drones to Russia. Iran's foreign minister Hossein Amirabdollahian claimed that the transfer happened months before Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February and that Iran is not aware of them being used in the war.
News Briefs
November 4, 2022
A Slovak manufacturer of light aircraft exported Rotax 912 engines to Iran in April, according to a report in the Slovak newspaper Denník N. The engine is used in Iran's Mohajer-6 drones, which have been supplied to Russia for use in Ukraine.
-- The New Voice of Ukraine
November 1, 2022
Russia began swapping oil products with Iran, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said after meeting with Iran's oil minister. Iran is also seeking a gas swap deal with Russia, and the ministers discussed infrastructure projects including port development and a freight corridor linking the two countries.
-- Bloomberg
October 27, 2022
Iran began the construction of a 10-megawatt research reactor at Isfahan. The reactor will use fuel plates enriched to 20 percent.
-- Mehr News Agency
October 24, 2022
The head of Ukraine's intelligence service said Ukrainian forces have shot down more than two-thirds of the roughly 330 Iranian-made Shahed drones that Russia has launched in the war so far. He also said the Russian military had ordered some 1,700 Iranian drones in total.
-- Associated Press
October 18, 2022
Iran has sent members of its Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps to a base in Crimea to help Russian soldiers operate drones purchased from Iran, according to U.S. officials. Originally, Russia had sent its personnel to Iran for such training. Iran denied the claim.
-- New York Times
October 17, 2022
The United States said that Iran's supply of drones to Russia is a violation of UN Security Council Resolution 2231, the resolution that endorsed the 2015 nuclear agreement between Iran and world powers. France and the United Kingdom had earlier offered similar assessments.
-- Reuters
October 16, 2022
Iran is planning to transfer Fateh-110 and Zolfaghar short-range ballistic missiles to Russia, according to U.S. and allied security officials. Iran is also preparing new deliveries of dozens of Mohajer-6 drones and a larger number of Shahed-136 "kamikaze" drones.
-- Washington Post
October 7, 2022
October 7, 2022- The United States and United Kingdom held a joint military exercise in the Persian Gulf involving three Saildrone Explorer sea drones. During the drill, the unmanned surveillance ships searched for a target and relayed images to American and British warships as well as to a command center. In recent months, Iran seized and released the same model of sea drone on two separate occasions in the Persian Gulf and Red Sea.
-- Associated Press
September 28, 2022
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) announced on September 28 that it had launched ballistic missiles and drones against Iranian Kurdish militants based in the Kurdistan region of Iraq. According to Iraqi state media, the strikes landed near Erbil and Sulaimaniya, killing 13 and wounding 58, including civilians. Iran had earlier accused the militants of supporting protests across Iran. Iraq criticized the Iranian operation as a breach of its sovereignty. The same day, U.S. forces reported downing an Iranian drone heading toward Erbil.
-- Reuters