(Zero Hedge)—Russia offered Iran thousands of advanced drones built to bypass electronic jamming systems, along with training for attacks on US troops in the Middle East, according to a confidential intelligence document obtained and reviewed by The Economist.
Already the two countries have deepened their defense ties in the context of the years-long Ukraine war, with Tehran providing tens of thousands of Shahed suicide drones, but this fresh allegation points to potential increasing Russian involvement against the United States in the Persian Gulf region.
Moscow has been previously accused of supplying the Iranians with targeting intelligence related to Operation Epic Fury, and some analysts have said this could explain how Iranian ballistic missiles and drones were able in many cases to score precision hits on US radar and military outposts in the region, as far away as Jordan for example.
The Economist report accuses Russian intelligence of preparing a plan to offer Tehran what are essentially ‘un-jammable drones’, describing that teh GRU military intelligence agency drafted a 10-page proposal offering Iran 5,000 short-range fiber-optic drones, as well as an undisclosed number of longer-range satellite-guided drones, and a full drone operator training program.
The document is said the be full of diagrams and maps of strategic Iranian coastal zones and islands near the Strait of Hormuz, which is precisely where sporadic fighting between US and Iranian forces is taking place currently.
Neither Tehran nor Moscow has publicly acknowledged any such plan or document, and they are not expected to comment. But to some degree the ‘planning’ seems consistent with what Russia has learned amid the ‘drone wars’ over Ukraine.
Unlike conventional drones controlled by radio signals, fiber-optic drones operate through trailing cables, making them extremely difficult, if not impossible, to jam electronically – but also highly responsive and maneuverable. Hezbollah in Lebanon is said to be increasingly reliant on tethered drones for attacks on IDF convoys in South Lebanon as well as northern Israel.
As for the Iran war context, the GRU assessed that US amphibious forces and landing craft would be especially vulnerable to drone swarm attacks because of their slow speed, according to The Economist.
The Kremlin has broadly sought to bat down such reports alleging a deepened Russian military or intelligence role in helping Iran amid its war with the US and Israel. Also, most every country has intelligence ‘plans’ on the shelves as ‘options’ – but it doesn’t mean any follow through actually results, or that decisions were even close to being made.
It should also be noted that The Economist in particular is among the more establishment and national security state-friendly magazines and news sources.
Some pundits have accused the publication of tending to always reflect a CIA and military-industrial complex mainstream perspective on global events and ‘official enemies’.
