Russia: Military Relations with Iran will Not be Subject to Pressure

Russia's military cooperation with Iran will not succumb to geopolitical pressure, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said, following a report that Washington has asked Teheran to stop selling drones to Moscow.

"There are no changes, and cooperation with Iran will continue," Ryabkov said, according to a report on Saturday from Russian state news agency RIA.

The official was responding to a question about Russia’s ability to obtain guarantees from Iran regarding the military-technical cooperation in light of reports of a US proposal to Tehran to reduce military cooperation with Russia.

“We are independent states and do not succumb to the dictates of the United States and its satellites."

Earlier this month, the European Union's commissioner for security and foreign affairs, Josep Borrell, expressed to Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian his "concern about military cooperation" between Tehran and Moscow.

US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin warned that the increase in Iranian-Russian military cooperation has negative consequences for Ukraine and the Middle East region.

The White House threatened to impose sanctions on those facilitating military cooperation between the two countries.

Moscow has repeatedly denied reports that Russian forces used Iranian drones in Ukraine, stressing that these accusations are baseless, according to the Novosti agency.

The Financial Times reported earlier in August that the US is pushing Iran to stop selling armed drones to Russia as part of discussions on a broader “unwritten understanding” between Washington and Tehran to de-escalate tensions and contain a long-simmering nuclear crisis.

According to an Iranian official and another person briefed on the talks, the US wants Iran to stop supplying drones to Russia, which Moscow is using in the war in Ukraine, and spare parts for the unmanned aircraft.

Iran admitted sending drones to Russia, but it had previously said, “they were sent before” the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. However, a White House official said last June that Iran transported several hundreds of drones to Russia since August 2022.

Meanwhile, Major General Yahya Safavi, the military advisor to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, confirmed that Iran's new strategy is to connect the maritime and ground geostrategic domains.

Safavi said in a speech during the fifth meeting of a council making policies for a national conference on maritime threats and opportunities that it would be impossible to define the position of Iran in the “geometry of the new world order” without a strong presence in high seas and oceans.

“We need to connect the maritime and ground geostrategic domains. This is a new strategy as Iran’s geographical location gives us such a capacity,” the general was quoted by Tasnim news agency.

He added that a requisite for Iran to become a maritime power is its presence in the Antarctic for research and scientific activities.

The official noted that Iran must promote the strategy of a sea-oriented economy and boost its maritime power with the presence of its trade and military fleet in the oceans and seas and by using the network of South-North and East-to-West corridors in cooperation with the Russian Federation and China.

Furthermore, the Iranian Army concluded large-scale electronic warfare maneuvers in central territories under the codename "The Shield of the Guardians of Jurisprudence.”

The exercise aimed to assess the effectiveness of electronic warfare units, including locally built and manufactured radars, drones, micro aerial vehicles (MAVs), and other military equipment.

Rear Admiral Habibollah Sayyari, Deputy Chief of Iran's Army for Coordination, pointed out that the drill included various types of homegrown electronic warfare systems, radars, drones, cyber and aerospace systems, manned and unmanned fighter jets, micro aerial vehicles, fixed, mobile, ground- and air-based electronic warfare systems.

Sayyari revealed that more than 95 percent of the war game plans have been carried out successfully, reiterating the country's full preparedness for defense.

He asserted that Iran would never attack or take aggressive action against any country.

Sayyari highlighted that the combat scenarios and electronic warfare operations implemented in these joint and specialized maneuvers show the extent of the Iranian army's progress in electronic warfare.

Tasnim Agency reported that the electronic defense systems in the general area of the maneuvers successfully carried out civil and electronic defense operations against large and small enemy drones.

The news agency added that "the exercise encompassed tasks such as identifying radio and data communications, executing group annihilation operations using micro aerial vehicles, electronic radar protection, and disrupting and deceiving ground-based radar systems with a range of tactical and jamming systems."

It further noted that "the exercise featured aerial tracking operations by Air Force fighter jets and disruption and deception operations aimed at cruise missile navigation, utilizing both airborne and ground-based platforms."

During the maneuver, electronic warfare support activities were carried out by manned and unmanned aerial vehicles (Ababil 3, 4, 5, and Kaman 12) and electronic defensive systems.