Russian security official arrives in Iran ‘for negotiations’
It is not known for certain what exactly Nikolai Patrushev's trip to Iran is connected with (Photo:kremlin.ru)
Russia’s Secretary of the National Security Council Nikolai Patrushev arrived in Tehran, Iran, on Nov. 8 for negotiations, Iranian state-run outlet Nour News Agency reported on Twitter.
“With the official invitation of Admiral Ali Shamkhani, the Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Nikolai Patrushev, the Secretary of the National Security Council of Russia, arrived in Tehran on Tuesday evening, November 8,” the agency tweeted.
Later, this information was confirmed by the Kremlin-controlled media outlets, however, the topic of the discussion is not yet known.
At the same time, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) noted that Iranian state-run outlet Nour News Agency announced Patrushev’s arrival in an English-language tweet, stating Iranian Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) Secretary Ali Shamkhani invited Patrushev and noted that Patrushev will also meet with other high-ranking Iranian political and economic officials to discuss Russo-Iranian cooperation. Nour News Agency is affiliated with the SNSC, it said.
According to ISW analysts, the SNSC likely announced Patrushev’s arrival in Iran to highlight the deepening cooperation between Moscow and Tehran to an international audience (rather than domestically), as well as to implicitly highlight that a high-ranking Russian official turned to Iran for help in Ukraine.
Russian troops are using Iranian suicide drones to attack Ukraine’s civilian infrastructure.
About 40% of the country’s power plants were damaged due to such attacks, resulting in several regions being forced to introduce blackout schedules.
Despite overwhelming evidence, Moscow continues to deny using Iranian drones to attack Ukraine.
At the same time, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian admitted for the first time on Nov. 5 that Tehran had handed over drones to Russia, but claimed that this happened before the start of a full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
However, evidence from shot-down Iranian drones, which contain components made in February of this year, indicates that Iran probably supplied weapons to Russia after the start of its full-scale invasion and war against Ukraine.
The United States has also refuted Iran’s claims, and emphasized that Iran transferred drones to Russia in the summer of 2022, and also sent its military specialists to occupied Ukrainian territories to train Russian troops in operating the Iranian-made weapons.
The Washington Post reported on Oct. 16 that Iran has agreed to supply Russia with two types of surface-to-surface missiles – the Fateh-110 and Zolfaghar. These short-range ballistic missiles can strike targets up to 300 kilometres and 700 kilometers away respectively, the newspaper reported.
U.S. news channel CNN reported on Nov. 1 that Iran is preparing to send Russia approximately 1,000 additional weapons to use in its war against Ukraine, including short range ballistic missiles and kamikaze drones.
In turn, U.S. State Department spokesperson Ned Price said on Nov. 8 the United States will “vigorously” enforce all sanctions on both Russian and Iranian arms trade “to make it harder for Iran to sell these weapons to Russia.”
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