Tehran denies, Kyiv proves Ukrainian experts on Iranian UAV deliveries to Russia

"Kyiv has failed to prove Russia's use of Iranian drones to attack Ukrainian territory," Iranian Defenсe Minister Mohammad Reza Ashtiani said after a meeting of Ukrainian and Iranian experts on the drone issue, the Iranian government's press service reported in its Telegram channel.

According to Ashtiani, Russia and Iran have a long-standing experience of interaction in the military sphere. However, during the "special operation" in Ukraine, they did not conduct any business related to drones.

As a reminder, for several months there have been reports about Russia's use of Iranian-made Mohajer-6 and Shahed-136 drones in Ukraine. Ukraine claims that the Geran-2 drones used by Russia are in fact Iranian Shahed-136 drones. In response, Iran stubbornly denies selling drones to Russia, just as Moscow denies buying Iranian drones.

It is interesting: after numerous photos and evidence in the media, Iran claims that the Ukrainian side could not provide any evidence. Famous Ukrainian experts shared their thoughts on this matter with Caliber.Az.

"Tehran is shamelessly lying. What proof do we need when we landed a completely whole UAV on the water? Or did they want accompanying documents for the shipment? It's kind of weird...," said Security Service of Ukraine (SSU) reserve major general, deputy chairman of the SBU from March 2014 to June 2015, director of the Security Sector Reform Agency Viktor Yahun.

According to him, all totalitarian regimes are the same - they deny everything until the last moment, and when caught red-handed, they say it is not our hand, but the neighbor's, and in general, we have nothing to do with it...

Mykhailo Honchar, president of the Strategy XXI Globalist Center and editor-in-chief of the Black Sea Security magazine, states that there is nothing new in Iran's behavior. Bald lies and denial of obvious facts are part of traditional Iranian diplomacy. Tehran has also adopted the experience of making excuses from the Russian Federation.

"It is worth remembering how Iran denied its involvement in the September 2019 attacks on Saudi oil infrastructure. Here's from reports at the time: 'Iran rejects US allegations of involvement in attacks on Saudi national oil company Saudi Aramco's refineries. These allegations are baseless, incomprehensible, and absurd,' Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi said."

The kingdom's defence ministry then presented the remains of cruise missiles and drones collected on the ground after the strike. It was not difficult to determine their complete resemblance to the products of the Iranian military-industrial complex - the Qasef UAV and the Soumar missile.

But even after that, Iranian presidential adviser Hesamoddin Ashna said that Saudi Arabia had not provided any evidence of Iran's involvement in the attacks.

The same is true for Iranian-made Shahed-type UAVs, which Russia has called "Geran". Well, kind of camouflage. But already the first "Geran" shot down in Ukraine showed a clear trace - Iranian marking of all major parts, the engine is the Iranian analogue of the Chinese prototype. And one of the Russian propaganda resources complaining that Russia has a problem with UAVs of its own design frankly admitted - "The fact that they wrote "Geran-2" on the tail did not make the product Russian. This is clear and understandable. It is the same Iranian Shahed.

So there is nothing surprising, a standard Iranian lie. When in January 2020 a Ukrainian airliner was shot down by air defenсe fire after taking off from Tehran airport, the official Iranian authorities first denied that the plane was shot down and then lied that they wanted to hide the fact of the destruction when everything became clear even without official comments. I am surprised at another thing - why was it necessary to fall for the Iranian trick in the UAV story in the Russian dodging style and organize expert meetings when it was clear from the beginning that Tehran would lie? The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry has already made a statement about the need to break diplomatic relations with the Iranian regime," Honchar said.

Gleb Parfyonov, head of the security department of the Doctrine Center for Political Studies (Kyiv), also noted Iran's untruth.

"After all, the facts of using shells and body armor from Iran are already known. Their actions are not surprising, they have denied and will continue to deny this fact. Because then they can become part of the conflict and get additional sanctions from Western countries.

On the other hand, they are partially open to negotiations. And it is possible that Russia does not have Iranian-made ballistic missiles due to the fact that Iran is being pressured for the supply of ammunition and drones to Russia," Parfyonov said.