Iranian Foreign Minister says military cooperation with Russia is not aimed against third countries

29 March 2023

Iran-Russia defense cooperation does not infringe on the interests of third countries. Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian said this in an interview with IRNA news agency on Wednesday upon his arrival in Moscow.


"Defense cooperation is one of the topics on the bilateral cooperation agenda, while it is not directed against any third country," the agency quoted him as saying. At IRNA's request, Abdollahian commented on remarks made by a US State Department deputy official that Iran allegedly supplies Russia with drones. The basis for such allegations was the publication of The Wall Street Journal.


Moscow and Tehran have repeatedly denied that Iranian drones were supplied to Russia for use in Ukraine. Russian presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov called such reports fake and stressed that the Russian army uses domestically produced drones. In November 2022, the head of the Iranian foreign ministry said that the republic had supplied drones to Russia, but in small quantities and a few months before the start of a special military operation in Ukraine.

 

 

GSV "Russia - Islamic world"

Photo: Russian Foreign Ministry

Based on materials from TASS