The United States accuses Russia of providing Iran with weapons and combat aircraft

The Biden administration is accusing Russia’s move to provide advanced military aid to Iranincluding air defense systems, helicopters and combat aircraft, which are part of the deepening cooperation between the two countries such as Tehran Provides drones To support Vladimir Putin Ukraine invasion.

White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby on Friday cited US intelligence assessments of the allegations, saying Russia is providing Iran with “an unprecedented level of military and technical support that turns their relationship into a full defense partnership.”

Kirby said Russia and Iran were considering setting up a drone assembly line in Russia for the conflict in Ukraine, while Russia was training Iranian pilots on the Sukhoi Su-35 and Iran could receive shipments of the plane within a year.

“These fighter jets will greatly enhance Iran’s air force compared to its regional neighbors,” Kirby said.

The American allegations are part of a deliberate effort by the United States to push Russia’s global isolation, in this case aimed at Arab countries that seemed to contain Iran’s regional rancor and who did not take a strong stand against Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Where Russia’s military resources are taxed by invading Ukraine and penalties Against it because of the war, Western powers are providing military equipment to Ukraine to defend itself, raising the cost for Putin, reminiscent of the drain on resources that occurred during the “Star Wars” competition between the United States and the former Soviet Union, when Moscow saw its military coffers depleted.

Earlier this year, the Biden administration accused Saudi Arabia of siding with Russia in the conflict grazing cutting by the OPEC+ cartel to increase the price of oil, which is crucial to financing Moscow’s war effort. Saudi Arabia and Iran have been on opposite sides of a years-long proxy war in Yemen.

Kirby said the arms transfers violated UN Security Council resolutions, and that the US “will use the tools at our disposal to expose and disrupt these activities.”

Concerns about a “deep and thriving defense partnership” between Russia and Iran come as the Biden administration has repeatedly accused Iran of aiding Russia in its invasion of Ukraine.

The administration says Iran sold hundreds of attack drones to Russia over the summer. Kirby on Friday reiterated the administration’s belief that Iran is considering selling hundreds of ballistic missiles to Russia, but acknowledged that the United States does not have “full insight into Iranian thinking as to why” the deal has not been completed.

Britain’s ambassador to the United Nations, Barbara Woodward, told the UN Security Council on Friday that Russia – due to harsh sanctions – is turning to Iran for weapons, including military drones, which are used to kill civilians. Woodward called for an investigation by the United Nations, arguing that both countries were breaking international law with the rogue partnership.

Woodward accused Russia of trying to obtain more weapons from Iran, including hundreds of ballistic missiles, in exchange for an “unprecedented level of military and technical support” for Tehran.

“We are concerned that Russia intends to provide Iran with more advanced military components, which will allow Iran to strengthen its capabilities in the field of armaments,” she said. “Therefore, it is necessary to reveal the truth about Iran’s supply to Russia, and for the United Nations to investigate as soon as possible.”

“Ukraine demands that Iran immediately halt arms shipments to Russia that are being used to kill civilians and destroy critical infrastructure, and comply with Security Council resolutions,” Sergey Kislitsya, Ukraine’s ambassador to the United Nations, told CBS News reporter Pamela Falk on Friday.

At a UN Security Council meeting on Friday called by Russia to assess the impact of Western arms being pumped into Ukraine, Russia’s UN ambassador Vasily Nebenzya again denied that Iran was supplying weapons to Ukraine.

“The military-industrial harmonization in Russia can work perfectly well and does not need anyone’s help, while the Ukrainian military industry is basically non-existent and is supported by Western industry and Western companies,” he said.

At the meeting, Richard Mills, the US deputy ambassador to the United Nations, told fellow diplomats on Friday that “what we’re seeing is — frustrated on the battlefield, Russia has resorted to destroying Ukraine’s critical infrastructure and energy from afar, causing enormous civilian suffering. It has We heard just three days ago defying the international community’s call to stop its aggression.”

“It was Russia that disparagingly called this meeting, alleging an illegal plot to transfer weapons from Ukraine. When in reality, as others around this table have noted, it is Russia that is complicit in Iran’s illegal transfer of drones to Russia,” Mills added.

The White House says Russia did Also turned to North Korea For artillery with the continuation of the nine months war. North Korea denied this allegation.

The White House has repeatedly sought to highlight Russia’s dependence on Iran and North Korea, another widely isolated country on the international stage, for support as it pursues its war against Ukraine.

British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly described cooperation between Iran and Russia as a “desperate alliance”.

“Iran is now one of Russia’s biggest military backers,” he said. Their sordid deals have seen the Iranian regime send hundreds of drones to Moscow, which have been used to attack critical infrastructure in Ukraine and kill civilians.

In return, Russia provides military and technical support to the Iranian regime, which will increase the danger it poses to our partners in the Middle East and to international security.

The Biden administration recently unveiled sanctions against Iranian companies and entities involved in the transfer of Iranian drones to Russia for use in Ukraine. It all comes as the Islamic Republic’s administration has condemned its violent crackdown on protests that erupted across Iran following the death in September of 22-year-old Mohsa Amini while in the custody of the morality police.

Even with the White House accusing Iran of supporting Russia’s war effort, the administration has not given up the possibility of reviving the 2015 Iran nuclear deal — which the Trump administration scuttled in 2018. The deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. , would offer Tehran billions of dollars in sanctions relief in return for the country agreeing to roll back its nuclear program to the limits set by the 2015 deal.