TEHRAN, Jun 13 (NNN-IRNA) – The Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman, yesterday, rejected the U.S. claim that Iran is sending materials to Russia, to help Moscow build a drone manufacturing plant.
Nasser Kanaani made the remarks, at a weekly press conference, in response to the White House’s allegation that Tehran “provided hundreds of armed drones to Russia last month, for Moscow’s war in Ukraine,” according to a statement on the website of Iran’s Foreign Ministry.
Iran rejects such claims with “political motivations,” said Kanaani, adding that, military and defence cooperation between Iran and Russia had started before the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
In a statement on Friday, John Kirby, spokesperson for the White House National Security Council, said, “As of May, Russia received hundreds of one-way attack UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles), as well as, UAV production-related equipment, from Iran.”
He said, Russia had used Iranian drones in recent weeks to strike Kiev, noting that Moscow has been “offering Iran unprecedented defence cooperation, including on missiles, electronics, and air defence, in return for Iran’s supplying kamikaze drones to Russia.”
