Iran said to be helping Russia build drone plant
WASHINGTON — Iran is providing Russia with materials to build a drone manufacturing plant east of Moscow as the Kremlin looks to lock in a steady supply of weaponry for its ongoing invasion of Ukraine, according to a U.S. intelligence finding released Friday by the White House.
National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said U.S. intelligence officials believe a plant in Russia’s Alabuga special economic zone could be operational early next year. The White House also released satellite imagery taken in April of the industrial location, several hundred miles east of Moscow, where it believes the plant “will probably be built.”
President Joe Biden’s administration publicly stated in December that it believed Tehran and Moscow were considering standing up a drone assembly line in Russia for the Ukraine war. The new intelligence suggests the project, in the Yelabuga region of Tatarstan, has moved beyond conception.
Iran has said it provided drones to Russia before the start of the war but not since.
Kirby said U.S. officials also have determined Iran continues to supply the Russian military with one-way attack drones made in Iran: The drones are shipped via the Caspian Sea, from Amirabad in Iran to Makhachkala, Russia, and then are used by Russian forces against Ukraine.
As of May, Russia had received hundreds of one-way attack drones, as well as drone production-related equipment, from Iran, according to the White House.
“This is a full-scale defense partnership that is harmful to Ukraine, to Iran’s neighbors, and to the international community,” Kirby said. “We are continuing to use all the tools at our disposal to expose and disrupt these activities including by sharing this with the public — and we are prepared to do more.”
The Biden administration on Friday issued an advisory meant to help businesses and other governments put in place measures to ensure they are not inadvertently contributing to Iran’s drone program.
The notice from the departments of Commerce, State, Justice and Treasury said it was “critical that private industry be aware of its legal obligations” to abide by U.S. export controls and sanctions.