Russia flew €140m in cash and a selection of captured UK and US weapons to Iran in return for dozens of deadly drones for its war in Ukraine, a security source has claimed.
A Russian military aircraft secretly transported the cash and three models of munition – a British NLAW anti-tank missile, a US Javelin anti-tank missile and a Stinger anti-aircraft missile – to an airport in Tehran in the early hours of 20 August, the source told Sky News, speaking on condition of anonymity to share sensitive information.
The weapons had been part of a shipment of UK and US military equipment intended for the Ukrainian military that “fell into Russian hands”, according to the source.
The source said they could give Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) the ability to study Western technology and potentially copy it.
“They will probably be reverse-engineered and used in future wars,” the source said.
For its part, Iran supplied Russia with more than 160 unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), including 100 Shahed-136 drones, the source claimed. These have been nicknamed “suicide drones” because they explode on impact.
The source alleged that a further drone deal worth €200m (£174m) had been agreed between Tehran and Moscow in the past few days.
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“That means there will be another big supply of UAVs from Iran soon,” the source said.
The Iranian and Russian governments were approached for a response to the allegations.
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President Vladimir Putin’s forces have recently ramped up drone attacks against Ukraine.
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Russian use of Iranian drones in Ukraine
Coupled with more conventional missile strikes, they have targeted critical power and water supplies across the country, including in the capital Kyiv.
The barrages have killed civilians, caused widespread blackouts and strained Ukrainian air defences, with costly anti-aircraft missiles deployed to counter much cheaper drones.
Justin Bronk, a senior research fellow at the Royal United Services Institute, a London-based think-tank, said the Iranian drones had become a crucial part of Russia’s war effort.
“If Iran hadn’t supplied the Shaheds, it would be significantly less effective in terms of the Russian strike campaign against Ukrainian electrical infrastructure and water,” he said.
In a potentially even graver threat, the Iranian government has also reportedly agreed to transfer bigger, more sophisticated ballistic missiles to Russia.
Vadym Prystaiko, the Ukrainian ambassador to the UK, said if the reports were confirmed “this will pose a real, real threat”.
He told Sky News: “If they [Iranian ballistic missiles] come in numbers, we will have real trouble.”
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Zelenskyy warning on Iran drones
Iran has dismissed the missile allegation as “completely false”, though it did finally admit to supplying “a limited number of drones” to Moscow.
But Hossein Amirabdollahian, the foreign minister, claimed on Saturday that this happened before – not since – Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February.
By contrast, Ukraine, the US, the UK and France have all accused Iran of supplying drones to Russia more recently.
The exact total number is not clear. The US said in July it believed the Iranian government was preparing to provide Russia with hundreds of drones.
Russian military cargo planes ‘in Tehran’
Offering evidence of the alleged 20 August drone transaction, the security source shared with Sky News satellite imagery that they said showed two Russian military cargo planes at an airport in Tehran.
The source said one of the Ilyushin IL-76 aircraft was believed to have transported the €140m (£122m) and the captured Western weapons.
Image: 1.17am local time – satellite image shared with Sky News shows two planes in Mehrabad International Airport
The first image, time-stamped 1.17am in the morning on 20 August, showed two aircraft, highlighted by red lines, at Mehrabad airport in the Iranian capital.
In the second image, taken at just after 3.30am, one of the aircraft had moved to the runway side of the facility and the other had turned around.
Image: 3.32am local time – satellite image shared with Sky News shows two planes have moved in Tehran’s main airport
In the final image, three and a half hours later, both aircraft appeared to have gone.
Either one or both of them departed carrying Iranian drones, the source alleged.
Image: 7.01am local time – satellite image shared with Sky News shows the planes have gone from the Iranian airport
The source said they were aware of at least five Russian aircraft having transported drones from Iran since 20 August as part of the deal.
A list of supplied drones
In terms of what was supplied by Iran, the source listed: 100 Shahed-136 drones, 60 smaller Shahed-131 drones and six Mohajer-6 drones.
Unlike the Shahed “suicide” aircraft, the Mohajer-6 is an armed drone that can drop or launch munitions.
Asked why Russia also gave Iran captured British and US weapons, the source said it is thought this was because Tehran wanted to use its ability to reverse-engineer products.
The source said they believed knowledge gained by the Iranians from reverse-engineering a US spy drone captured by Iran in 2011 helped in the development of the Shahed drones.
Iran reverse-engineering drones
“We think that the Iranians have proven that they have an efficient reverse-engineering system, as we can see with the UAVs they have reverse-engineered from the US’s UAV captured in 2011,” the source said.
“It seems that Iran also wants to benefit from the war [in Ukraine] by receiving from the Russians Western capabilities that will be useful for them in the future – as happened in the past.”
An American RQ-17 Sentinel surveillance drone – used for reconnaissance – was captured in December 2011. An Iranian commander claimed the following year that his country had reverse-engineered the aircraft and was building a copy. Moscow last month denied its forces had used Iranian drones to attack Ukraine.
“Russian equipment with Russian nomenclature is used,” spokesman Dmitry Peskov was quoted as saying on 18 October. “All further questions should be directed to the Defence Ministry.”
Sky News has contacted the Russian defence ministry but has yet to receive a reply.
The IDF has admitted to mistakenly identifying a convoy of aid workers as a threat – following the emergence of a video which proved their ambulances were clearly marked when Israeli troops opened fire on them.
The bodies of 15 aid workers – including eight medics working for the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) – were found in a “mass grave” after the incident, according to the head of the UN Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs Jonathan Whittall.
The Israeli military originally claimed an investigation found the vehicles did not have any headlights or emergency signals and were therefore targeted as they looked “suspicious”.
But video footage obtained by the PRCS, and verified by Sky News, showed the ambulances and a fire vehicle clearly marked with flashing red lights.
In a briefing from the IDF, they said the ambulances arrived in the Tel Sultan neighbourhood in Rafah shortly after a Hamas police vehicle drove through.
Image: Palestinians mourning the medics after their bodies were recovered. Pic: Reuters
An IDF surveillance aircraft was watching the movement of the ambulances and notified troops on the ground. The IDF said it will not be releasing that footage.
When the ambulances arrived, the soldiers opened fire, thinking the medics were a threat, according to the IDF.
The soldiers were surprised by the convoy stopping on the road and several people getting out quickly and running, the IDF claimed, adding the soldiers were unaware the suspects were in fact unarmed medics.
An Israeli military official would not say how far away troops were when they fired on the vehicles.
The IDF acknowledged that its statement claiming that the ambulances had their lights off was incorrect, and was based on the testimony from the soldiers in the incident.
The newly emerged video footage showed that the ambulances were clearly identifiable and had their lights on, the IDF said.
The IDF added that there will be a re-investigation to look into this discrepancy.
Image: The clip is filmed through a vehicle windscreen – with three red light vehicles visible in front
Addressing the fact the aid workers’ bodies were buried in a mass grave, the IDF said in its briefing this is an approved and regular practice to prevent wild dogs and other animals from eating the corpses.
The IDF could not explain why the ambulances were also buried.
The IDF said six of the 15 people killed were linked to Hamas, but revealed no detail to support the claim.
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Bodies of aid workers found in Gaza
The newly emerged footage of the incident was discovered on a phone belonging to one of the workers who was killed, PRCS president Dr Younis Al Khatib said.
“His phone was found with his body and he recorded the whole event,” he said. “His last words before being shot, ‘Forgive me, mom. I just wanted to help people. I wanted to save lives’.”
Sky News used an aftermath video and satellite imagery to verify the location and timing of the newly emerged footage of the incident.
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Aid worker attacks increasing
It was filmed on 23 March north of Rafah and shows a convoy of marked ambulances and a fire-fighting vehicle travelling south along a road towards the city centre. All the vehicles visible in the convoy have their flashing lights on.
The footage was filmed early in the morning, with a satellite image seen by Sky News taken at 9.48am local time on the same day showing a group of vehicles bunched together off the road.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has hit out at the US over its “weak” response to lethal Russian attacks on his hometown on Friday.
President Zelenskyy posted a lengthy and emotional statement on X about Russia’s strikes on Kryvyi Rih, which killed 19 people.
Meanwhile Ukrainian drones hit an explosives factory in Russia’s Samara region in an overnight strike, a member of Ukraine’s SBU security service told Reuters.
In his post, President Zelenskyy accused the United States of being “afraid” to name-check Russia in its comment on the attack.
“Unfortunately, the reaction of the American Embassy is unpleasantly surprising: such a strong country, such a strong people – and such a weak reaction,” he wrote on X.
“They are even afraid to say the word “Russian” when talking about the missile that killed children.”
America’s ambassador to Ukraine Bridget Brink had written on X: “Horrified that tonight a ballistic missile struck near a playground and restaurant in Kryvyi Rih.
“More than 50 people injured and 16 killed, including 6 children. This is why the war must end.”
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Strike on Zelenskyy’s home city
President Zelenskyy went on in his post to say: “Yes, the war must end. But in order to end it, we must not be afraid to call a spade a spade.
“We must not be afraid to put pressure on the only one who continues this war and ignores all the world’s proposals to end it. We must put pressure on Russia, which chooses to kill children instead of a ceasefire.”
Grandmother ‘burned to death in her home’
Oleksandr Vilkul, head of the city’s defense council, said the missile attack, followed by a drone attack, had killed 19 people, including nine children.
“The Iskander-M missile strike with cluster munitions at the children’s playground in the residential area, to make the shrapnel fly further apart, killed 18 people.
“One grandmother was burnt to death in her house after Shahed’s direct hit.”
Russia’s defence ministry said it had struck a military gathering in a restaurant – an assertion rebutted by the Ukrainian military as misinformation.
“The missile hit right on the street – around ordinary houses, a playground, shops, a restaurant,” President Zelenskyy wrote.
Mr Zelenskyy also detailed the child victims of the attack including “Konstantin, who will be 16 forever” and “Arina, who will also be 7 forever”.
The UK’s chief of the defence staff Sir Tony Radakin said he had met the Ukrainian leader on Friday, along with French armed forces leader General Thierry Burkhard.
“Britain and France are coming together & Europe is stepping up in a way that is real & substantial, with 200 planners from 30 nations working to strengthen Ukraine’s long term security,” Sir Tony wrote.
Global financial markets gave a clear vote of no-confidence in President Trump’s economic policy.
The damage it will do is obvious: costs for companies will rise, hitting their earnings.
The consequences will ripple throughout the global economy, with economists now raising their expectations for a recession, not only in the US, but across the world.