Iranian army ground forces commander Kioumars Heydari said Tehran was ready to export arms and military equipment, including unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), to “friendly countries”.

“We are currently ready to export weapons and military equipment to friendly countries,” Heydari said July 19, according to a report by Iran’s Tasnim news agency.

“The Iranian military has produced the most sophisticated drones, and these drones are used in remote and cross-border reconnaissance, destruction and combat operations,” he added.

Heydari’s comments come amid US allegations that Iran is preparing to supply combat drones to Russia for use in the war with Ukraine. Meanwhile, Iran has denied the accusation.

On July 11, US presidential national security adviser Jake Sullivan claimed that Iran planned to supply Russia with several hundred unmanned aerial vehicles, including those capable of carrying armaments. According to him, Iran also planned to train Russian forces in the use of these drones, with the first stages of training starting as early as July.

However, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian dismissed the claims in a phone conversation with his Ukrainian counterpart Dmytro Kuleba.

Amir-Abdollahian described Sullivan’s statements as “pursuing certain political goals and ends, simultaneously with [US President Joe] Biden’s visit to the occupied Palestinian territories,” Iran’s Foreign Ministry website reported on July 15.

The US claim was also denied by Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani on July 13. According to him, “the context of cooperation between Iran and Russia in the field of certain modern technologies dates back to the period before the start of the war in Ukraine”. , and there hasn’t been much development in those relationships recently.

On the same day, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the topic of selling the drones would not be discussed during Russian President Vladimir Putin’s visit to Tehran on July 19 and declined to comment on the issue.

When meeting with Vladimir Putin on Tuesday, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei offered his strongest support for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Khamenei said that “war is an aggressive and difficult issue, and the Islamic Republic does not feel satisfied when ordinary people are subjected to it, but regarding the issue of Ukraine, if you had not taken initiative, the other side would have started a war with its initiative.”