Washington on Thursday said that Iranian troops are “directly engaged on the ground” in Crimea supporting Russian drone attacks on Ukraine’s power stations and other key infrastructure, troubling evidence of Tehran’s deepening role assisting Russia as it exacts suffering on Ukrainian civilians as the cold weather sets in.
US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters that Iran has sent a “relatively small number” of personnel to Crimea, a part of Ukraine unilaterally annexed by Russia in 2014, to assist Russian troops in launching Iranian-made drones against Ukraine.
Members of a branch of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps were dispatched to assist Russian forces in using the drones, the British government said.
Photo: Reuters
The revelation of the US intelligence finding comes as the administration of US president Joe Biden seeks to mount international pressure on Tehran to pull back from helping Russia as it bombards soft Ukrainian civilian targets with the help of Iranian-made drones.
The Russians in recent days have increasingly turned to the Iranian-supplied drones, as well as Kalibr and Iskander cruise missiles, to carry out a barrage of attacks against Ukrainian infrastructure and non-military targets.
“The information we have is that the Iranians have put trainers and tech support in Crimea, but it’s the Russians who are doing the piloting,” Kirby said.
Washington is looking at imposing new sanctions on Tehran and would look for ways to make it harder for Iran to sell such weapons to Russia, he added.
The US first revealed this summer that Russia was purchasing Iranian uncrewed aerial vehicles to launch attacks against Ukraine. Iran has repeatedly denied providing drones to Russia, although the triangle-shaped Shahed-136s raining down on civilians in Kyiv and elsewhere in Ukraine have been used in the Mideast by Tehran in the past.
Washington released further details about Iran’s involvement in assisting Russia’s war at a sensitive moment. The administration has levied new sanctions against Iran over recent brutal crackdowns on antigovernment protests.
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