The United States has information that Russia is receiving materials from Iran to build a drone factory that could be fully operational early next year, White House spokesman John Kirby said, according to Reuters.

The White House said on Friday that Russia appears to be increasing defense cooperation with Iran and has received hundreds of attack drones that it is using to strike Ukraine.

Citing recently declassified information, the White House said drones, or unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), that were built in Iran were flown across the Caspian Sea and then used by Russian forces against Ukraine.

“In recent weeks, Russia has used Iranian drones to strike Kiev and terrorize the Ukrainian population, and the Russian-Iranian military partnership appears to be strengthening,” White House spokesman John Kirby said.

The Iranian drone factory in Russia is starting to materialize

Kirby said the U.S. is concerned because it has information that Russia is receiving materials from Iran to build a drone factory that could be fully operational early next year.

“We are also concerned that Russia is working with Iran to manufacture Iranian UAVs inside Russia.”

An image provided by Maxar Technologies and released by the White House shows an industrial site several hundred kilometers east of Moscow where US intelligence officials believe Russia is building, with Iranian help, a factory to produce attack drones that will be used in a future invasion. of Ukraine.

American officials believe that the plant in the Russian special economic zone “Alabuga” can become operational in early 2024.

Earlier, the US imposed sanctions on the Iranian leaders of the manufacturer of military equipment for the supply of drones to Russia.

Iran acknowledged sending the drones to Russia, but said they were sent before the Russian invasion in February. Moscow denies the use of Iranian drones in Ukraine.

Kirby also said that Russia also supports Iran, with the latter seeking billions of dollars worth of military equipment from Moscow, including helicopters and radars.

“Russia has provided Iran with unprecedented defense cooperation, including missiles, electronics and air defense,” he said.

“This is a large-scale defense partnership that harms Ukraine, Iran’s neighbors and the international community. We continue to use all the tools at our disposal to expose and stop this activity, including by providing information to the public, and we stand ready to do more.”

Iranian drones modified specifically for Russia

Earlier, an investigation obtained by CNN said that Iran appears to be modifying the attack drones it supplies to Russia so that the explosive warheads can cause maximum damage to infrastructure targets in Ukraine.

The unexploded warhead of the Iranian Shahed-131 drone, found in the south of Odesa in October 2022, was examined last month by the British Conflict Armament Research together with the Ukrainian military.

The group’s analysts believe the warheads, which are less than two meters long, were hastily modified with ill-fitting layers of dozens of small metal fragments that scatter over a large radius on impact. In addition to these fragments, there are 18 smaller “charges” around the circumference of the warhead, which, when melted by the explosion, can penetrate armor and create something like a “360 degree” explosive effect.

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