Newly declassified US intelligence has said that Iran is preparing to supply Russia with several "hundreds" of drones - including those with capability for use in the war in Ukraine.
Jake Sullivan, the national security adviser, said that the drones were originally intended to help rebels in Yemen to fight the Saudi-backed government.
But now, Sullivan told a White House briefing: “Iran is preparing to train Russian forces to use these UAVs [unmanned aerial vehicles].”
However, Esfandyar Batmanghelidj, founder of Bourse Bazaar, a London-based think tank, raised eyebrows at the plan, saying that Iran has no experience exporting drones.
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“It's unlikely Iran even has that many operational drones in its own fleet," he tweeted.
The news comes as US President Joe Biden will arrive in the Middle East today, on Wednesday, to try to boost relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia.
Many Democrats have criticised the President for meeting with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, along with his father, King Salman.
The meeting marks a U-turn on Biden's promise from his campaign to make Saudi Arabia a “pariah” for the murder of the journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018.
But as nuclear talks between Iran and the US have reached an impasse, Biden feels the need to look elsewhere for support amid fears that there may be renewed conflict in the Middle East should the nuclear talks fail altogether.
Sullivan defended the meeting, saying: “Our diplomacy with Saudi Arabia is now delivering results, including a truce in Yemen, a more integrated Gulf Co-operation Council, progress on energy security, and security co-operation against threats from Iran.”
Iran has stood firm on blaming a NATO expansion for the war in Ukraine.
Last year, General Kenneth F. McKenzie Junior, the top US commander in the Middle East, told Congress that Iran-linked drones “present a new and complex threat to our forces and those of our partners and allies.”
The General said that for the first time since the Korean War, they are "operating without complete air superiority,” he said.
Sullivan’s claim also comes as the Kremlin’s spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Tuesday that Russian President Vladimir Putin plans to travel to Iran’s capital, Tehran, next week to hold talks with the Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Iranian state media said that Putin would visit to discuss deepening economic ties and it will be only the second time the Kremlin warmonger has left his country since the start of the invasion in February.
