Interview on India’s WION television regarding Washington allegations of Iran drone assistance to Russia
I am particularly pleased with this morning’s on-air discussion of the latest U.S. accusations directed against Iran for supplying drones and assisting with the construction of a drone production plant near Yelabuga in Tatarstan. These allegations were delivered to the press yesterday by Pentagon spokesman John Kirby. Kirby presented maps showing the likely route of whole drones and subassemblies from Iran across the Caspian to Russia and onward to the front lines in Ukraine.
It is nice to see that the Russians, even the now sharp tongued former president Dmitry Medvedev, have not lost their sense of humor. Without direct reference to the drone production facility that the Iranians may or may not be helping to set up, Medvedev yesterday asked the German tank producer Rheinmetall for the geographic coordinates of the Leopard tank factory they say they plan to build in Ukraine.
As for my 10-minute interview, we discussed why Iran might be motivated to enter into cooperation with Russia for the supply of drones and what, if anything, the U.S. and its allies might do to sever these ties. I sought to place the supply of drones in the context of overall military equipment and munitions being used by Russia in the Ukraine campaign. The point is that nearly everything deployed by Russia is Russian-made, and that the country is the world’s largest producer of artillery and shells, which are the decisive factor in this land war.
The interview has been posted in two 5 minute segments on Twitter
https://twitter.com/WIONews/status/1667453914541854721?t=dG3hGpErwni8Y8yX1t9fBg&s=19
https://twitter.com/WIONews/status/1667454398564560907?t=uFOiOB1XNADgexOdNupTCw&s=19
A youtube.com link will be listed here when it becomes available.