Russia and Iran cooperate in Shahed production – WP

The Washington Post published evidence of cooperation between Iran and Russia in producing the Shahed drones, which Moscow uses to attack Ukraine.

Journalists received internal documents from the winter of last year to the spring of this year about the factory’s work for the production of Iranian drones. It is about an enterprise in Russian Tatarstan’s Alabuga specialty economic zone.

Russia and Iran cooperate in the “franchise” format. “Under the deal, the new documents show, Tehran agreed to sell Moscow what is effectively a franchise, with Iranian specialists sharing project documentation, locally produced or reverse-engineered components, and know-how,” The Washington Post writes.

The Russians are to build a plant based on Iranian data. This process will be implemented in three stages. Initially, Tehran will supply the drones to Moscow in disassembled form for further use on the side. Next, Russian specialists will set up their own production. The third stage envisages minimal aid to Iran. The plant in Tatarstan should produce 6,000 kamikaze drones by 2025, the journalists added.

The plant actively lured workers with salaries higher than the average in Russia to scale production. Russians also went to Iran to “exchange experience”.

Despite the available information, Iran has repeatedly denied involvement in cooperation with Russia. In particular, Tehran allegedly refuted plans to build a drone factory on Russian territory in February.

“Unfortunately, the countries that are the largest exporters of arms and military equipment for one side of the war want to mislead the world public opinion by spreading fake news,” Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani said.