European intelligence agencies believe Russia is supplying drones to Iran, says official

Intelligence reports find Russia is close to completing phased shipment of drones, medicine and foodMiddle East crisis – live updatesIntelligence agencies in Europe believe Russia is in the final stages of preparing to supply supply drones to Iran for use in its war with the US and Israel, according to a senior European official.Russia has already been providing intelligence sharing with Tehran to help it target US forces in the region, the official said, but the upcoming delivery of explosive-laden drones would mark the first evidence of lethal support since the start of the war.The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, declined to provide details on the scale of any deliveries, but confirmed an article by the Financial Times that said “western intelligence reports” found Russia was close to completing a phased shipment of drones, medicine and food to Iran.Iranian and Russian officials began secretly discussing drone deliveries days after Israel and the US attacked Tehran in late February, the news website said, citing officials briefed on the intelligence. It said drone deliveries could be completed by the middle of next week.Responding to the claim of Moscow sending drones to Iran, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov was quoted as saying: “There are a lot of fakes going around right now. One thing is true – we are continuing our dialogue with the Iranian leadership.”Russia and Iran signed a strategic partnership agreement last year and Moscow has sent more than 13 tonnes of medicine to Iran through Azerbaijan.Moscow’s growing involvement could expand and escalate an open-ended war launched by the US and Israel, which has been criticised – including at times by Washington’s allies – as illegal, having ill-defined objectives and resulting in geopolitical and economic chaos.It could also anger other countries in the region. Tehran’s response to the attacks has been firing thousands of relatively cheap attack drones across the Gulf, hitting sites in multiple countries including Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Iraq and the United Arab Emirates. Tehran says it is targeting US interests in the region.Russia has been producing similar one-way attack drones, which are based on Iranian Shahed designs, for use in Ukraine.European foreign ministers used a G7 meeting in France on Friday with the US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, to press the case that Russia was helping Iran target US forces.The German foreign minister, Johann Wadephul, accused Russia of helping Iran identify potential strike targets, saying President Vladimir Putin was hoping to use the Iran war as a distraction from his attack on Ukraine.“Putin cynically hopes that the escalation in the Middle East will divert our attention from his crimes in Ukraine,” he said, speaking to reporters. “This calculation must not succeed. We see very clearly how closely the two conflicts are intertwined. Russia is evidently supporting Iran with information about potential targets.”The British foreign minister, Yvette Cooper, said she was “deeply concerned about the links between Russia and Iran that have been longstanding in terms of shared capabilities”, including drones.Reuters contributed to this report