Iran will soon receive a group of fighters courtesy of Russia’s supply line. On Saturday, December 24, the Israeli television channel i24news published this information, citing western intelligence sources that are monitoring military negotiations between Moscow and Tehran.
According to the channel, this is most likely about 24 Su-35 jets that were supposed to be sent to Egypt as part of a deal that fell through. However, the agreement never went through. Intelligence suggests that pilots in the Iranian air force are currently conducting training on these aircraft. In addition to this, Moscow is going to supply Tehran with air defence systems.
In addition to the 1,700 Shahed-136 kamikaze drones that have already been shipped to Russia, Iran plans to ship an additional 300 of these drones to Russia. Earlier, Kirill Budanova, the chief of the Main Intelligence Directorate for the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense, revealed that Russia has already launched 540 drones on Ukrainian territory out of the total of 1,700 Iranian UAVs that they have received.
Moscow has denied using any Iranian weapons in its conflict with Ukraine. Tehran has admitted to supplying a limited number of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to Russia in the lead-up to the invasion of Ukraine.
US warns of ‘unprecedented level’ of Russian military support for Iran
These sources confirm the information of the director of Israeli intelligence “Mossad” David Barnea, i24news notes. Earlier, he said that Iran plans to expand the supply of modern weapons to Russia. Barnea also warned of “Iran’s intention to expand its uranium enrichment program and its intention to increase its influence with friendly Muslim countries in the region in various ways.”
In December, the American television network NBC reported, citing sources in the White House, that Russia was providing an “unprecedented level” of military and technical support to Iran in exchange for Iran’s supply of weapons for the conflict in Ukraine. The White House was cited as the source for this information. NBC sources have discussed a number of topics, including the possibility of Tehran receiving fighter jets from another country.
After material written by journalist Ivan Safronov and published in Kommersant under the headline “Su-35s will strengthen Egyptian power,” the planned supplies of Russian Su-35s to Egypt became public knowledge in 2019 for the very first time. The value of that contract was two billion dollars. According to the Russian service of the BBC, the publishing of the material led to unhappiness with both the Egyptian and Russian militaries, and as a result, Safronov was placed under monitoring once it was made public.
