World Powers Want Iran’s Military Tech, Top Commander Says

Spending decades isolated from its traditional arms suppliers, Iran has built world-class domestic armaments and defense electronics industries from the ground up, enabling the country to produce an array of equipment ordinarily reserved for much larger powers, from missiles and air defense systems to an entire lineup of unmanned aerial vehicles.

Iran has built up a level of defense sector expertise high enough that major world powers would like to benefit from its achievements, Iranian Armed Forces Chief of Staff Muhammad Hussein Bagheri has said.

“With the consolidation of the country’s deterrence power, Iran not only prevents the enemies from even thinking of making any miscalculations toward the country and Iranians, but also has made the world’s major powers seek to benefit from the achievements of the Islamic Republic of Iran’s defense industry,” Bagheri said in a message congratulating Defense Minister Amir Hatami on National Defense Industry Day.

Bagheri pointed to the “remarkable progress” made by the defense sector in various areas, notwithstanding crushing sanctions and threats from other countries in the region and further abroad.

Iran has created an entire range of modern, effective weapons systems for use by all branches of the military, including the ground, naval, air, aerospace, missile, drone, and cyber defense units, the commander said.

Bagheri called on the Defense Ministry to continue to push for self-sufficiency in all fields, and to take advantage of the country’s “incredible” human resources, including talented young people working at knowledge-based companies.

Iran has built up an arsenal of domestically-produced military equipment, including a series of short-, medium-, and long-range ballistic and cruise missiles, as well as several dozen varieties of reconnaissance, kamikaze, and strike drones, some propeller-powered, others rocket-propelled.

The Islamic Republic showed off some of its drones at Russia’s ARMY-2022 expo last week.

In recent weeks, Western media have engaged in rampant speculation about the possibility of Russia purchasing Iranian UAVs for use in Moscow’s ongoing military operation in Ukraine, with US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan claiming in July that the US had “information” that Tehran was preparing to send up to “several hundred” drones to the country. Ukrainian officials have made similar claims. Earlier this month, CNN published a satellite image of an airfield in central Iran it said had been visited by Russian officials in June.

Russian and Iranian officials have remained hush-hush on the matter, with an aide to the Russian president saying last month that Vladimir Putin did not discuss the issue at his recent talks with President Ibrahim Raisi and Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. At the same time, Ukraine and its NATO sponsors have not provided any photographic, video, or other evidence of the use of Iranian drones in Ukraine. Last month, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein-Amir Abdollahian stressed that Tehran has sought to avoid exacerbating the Ukraine crisis by providing assistance to any parties in the conflict.

However, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps did confirm last week that it was holding joint drone exercises with Russia at the Kashan Air Base near Tehran, with Belarus and Armenia also taking part in the drills. The exercises were said to involve daytime and nighttime aerial reconnaissance, air support, and artillery fire adjustment operations.

Remember,#US State Department claimed #Russia has purchased hundreds of Iranian drones to use against #Ukraine. It has turned-out that Russian delegation which evaluated Shahed-129 & 191 drones in #Kashan, #Iran were there for World's Army UAV Contest which is now taking place! pic.twitter.com/U5GfRPNKpx

— Babak Taghvaee - The Crisis Watch (@BabakTaghvaee1) August 15, 2022

Iranian reconnaissance and strike drones have already proved their mettle in Iraq and Syria, where they are thought to have made thousands of survey and combat sorties in the battle against Daesh (ISIS)* and other jihadists in recent years. The country can boast of its status as one of the top five military drone makers in the world alongside the United States, Israel, China, and Turkey.

Russia has dramatically ramped up the production of its own combat and reconnaissance UAVs in recent years, particularly after the escalation of the Ukraine crisis in February. However, accounting for the size, complexity, and budgetary footprint of the Russian military and its defense sector, its drone capabilities continue to trail behind the aforementioned competitors, for the moment anyway.