Iran denies providing Russia with drones to be used in Ukraine

Shafaq News/ Iran rejected allegations that it has equipped Russia with weapons in its war in Ukraine, the foreign ministry said.

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian pointed out that Tehran "has not and will not provide any weapon to be used in the war in Ukraine."

"We believe that the arming of each side of the crisis will prolong the war," the Iranian foreign minister said in a call with his Portuguese counterpart Joao Gomes Cravinho.

He added, "We have not considered and do not consider war the right path either in Ukraine or Afghanistan, Syria, and Yemen."

In another phone call with the EU, foreign policy chief Josep Borrell Amir-Abdollahian reiterated Iran's official stance of neutrality over the war that started nearly eight months ago.

"We have defense cooperation with Russia, but our policy regarding the war in Ukraine is not sending weapons to the conflicting parties, stopping the war and ending the displacement of people," he said.

The Middle East Eye, a London-based online news website, reported that Iranian military instructors, believed to be affiliated with the elite force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), were reportedly present on the ground in Ukraine, training Russian troops on how to use the suicidal drone known as the Shahid-136.

According to Ukraine's Center for National Resistance, MME said that Russia brought Iranian military personnel to the occupied regions of Kherson and Crimea to train Russian forces on using the kamikaze drones.

Iran denied it had supplied drones to Russia.