White House: Russian officials visited Iran airfield to see drones
JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia — Russian officials visited an airfield in central Iran at least twice in recent weeks to view weapons-capable drones it is looking to acquire to use in its war against Ukraine, the White House said.
The Biden administration released the intelligence as President Joe Biden met Saturday with leaders of six Arab Gulf countries, plus Egypt, Jordan and Iraq for a regional summit. Biden told fellow heads of state at the summit the United States was committed to the Middle East and “will not walk away and leave a vacuum to be filled by China, Russia or Iran.”
Biden sought to use his appearance at the summit to bolster U.S. positioning in the Middle East and knit the region closer together against Iran.
Hours before the Gulf Cooperation Council summit, the White House released satellite imagery that indicates Russian officials have twice visited Iran in recent weeks for a showcase of weapons-capable drones it is looking to acquire to use in its war in Ukraine.
None of the countries represented at the summit have moved in lockstep with the U.S. to sanction Russia, a key foreign policy priority for the Biden administration. If anything, the United Arab Emirates has emerged as a sort of financial haven for Russian billionaires and their multimillion-dollar yachts. Egypt remains open to Russian tourists.
Release of the satellite imagery showing that Russian officials visited Kashan Airfield on June 8 and July 5 to examine the drones could help the administration better tie the relevance of the war to many Arab nations’ own concerns about Iran’s nuclear ambitions and other malign activity in the region.
A senior Biden administration official, who briefed reporters before the summit, said Moscow’s efforts to acquire drones from Tehran show Russia is “effectively making a bet on Iran.”
The administration also released satellite imagery of Shahed-191 and Shahed-129 drones being displayed and in flight on the airfield while a Russian delegation transport plane was on the ground.
White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said in a statement that the administration has “information that the Iranian government is preparing to provide Russia with several hundred UAVs.” UAVs are unmanned aerial vehicles, or drones.
“We assess an official Russian delegation recently received a showcase of Iranian attack-capable UAVs. We are releasing these images captured in June showing Iranian UAVs that the Russian government delegation saw that day,” Sullivan added. “This suggests ongoing Russian interest in acquiring Iranian attack-capable UAVs.”