Moscow has reached an agreement with Tehran to begin production of Iranian drones in Russia, The Washington Post reports , citing US intelligence and three officials familiar with the matter.
According to the publication, Russian and Iranian officials finalized the deal during a meeting in Iran in early November. Production could begin within the next few months, sources say.
By acquiring its own assembly line, Russia will dramatically increase its stockpile of relatively inexpensive but highly destructive weapons systems that have changed the nature of war in recent weeks.
Since August, Russia has deployed more than 400 Iranian-made combat drones against Ukraine, many of which have been used to strike civilian infrastructure such as power plants, according to US intelligence officials.
This agreement could satisfy Moscow's urgent need for precision-guided munitions, which are in short supply after nine months of hostilities, the newspaper's sources say. The deal also offers substantial economic and political benefits for Iran, officials said. Iran's leaders may hope to avoid new sanctions if the drones are assembled in Russia, sources said.
In October, The Washington Post, citing US security officials and their allies, wrote that new deliveries of Iranian weapons to Russia would include ground-to-ground missiles. These will be the first missiles delivered by Iran to Russia. We are talking about Fateh-110 and Zolfaghar, short-range ballistic missiles. They are capable of hitting targets at 300 and 700 km, respectively.
On November 15, the US Treasury imposed sanctions against two individuals and three legal entities for the production and alleged delivery of drones from Iran to the Russian Federation. Earlier, the EU, the UK and Switzerland imposed sanctions on three Iranian citizens and the drone manufacturer Shahed Aviation Industries.