Russia to expand military links with Iran, says UK
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Roshan Amiri
- . December 21, 2022
- . Update: December 21, 2022 2:16 pm
Russia has planned to expand military links with the Islamic Republic of Iran in return for drones, according to Britain’s defence secretary, Ben Wallace.
On Tuesday, Wallace said, “Iran has become one of Russia’s top military backers,” urging Western nations to hold Russia and Iran accountable. Wallace was talking about the Russia-Ukraine conflict at the Parliament.
According to Wallace, Russia will expand military links with the Islamic nation in return for more than 300 kamikaze drones. The Secretary of State for Defence of the United Kingdom further said that the deal between Iran and Russia could undermine the security of the Middle East. However, he did not provide any evidence to support his statement. He did not provide more information about the military components.
In his speech, Wallace also claimed that “more than 100,000 Russians” were dead, injured or had deserted since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in late February. The Russian defence ministry and Iran’s foreign ministry did not comment on this matter.
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The UK and other western countries have provided military assistance to Ukraine following the invasion. The United States, UK, and EU (European Union) also sanctioned top Russian officials following the invasion. They also slammed Iran for providing drones to Russia. They also sanctioned top Iranian military figures and defence manufacturers for allegedly supplying drones to Russia. However, Iran has repeatedly said that it provided drones to Russia before the Russia-Ukraine conflict. Russia also denied using Iranian drones in its war against Ukraine.
Earlier this week, EU’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell asked Iran to immediately halt military support for Russia.
According to The Guardian, Russia also asked Iran for ballistic missiles. However, there was no sign of that deal going ahead amid the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
Earlier this week, Ukrainian officials said that Russia attacked Ukraine with dozens of “kamikaze” drones, destroying infrastructure.
