By Al-Fassel and AFP | 2023-09-25

Russian modifications could bolster Iran's drone technology and boost its campaign to prop up Syrian president Bashar al-Assad, the US Air Force commander in the Middle East warned last Wednesday (September 20).

Warning of "burgeoning" military ties between Iran and Russia, US 9th Air Force commander Lt. Gen. Alexus Grynkewich said that shared drone technology was a particular concern.

"I think there's a risk that ... as Russia accepts the drones from Iran, as it modifies those weapons, that some of that technology gets shared back with Iran [and] gives them additional capabilities," he said.

Ample evidence attests to Russia's use of Iranian-made unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), commonly known as drones, in its attacks on Ukraine.

The Iranian regime initially denied its involvement in Moscow's war, but forensic evidence showed that the drones Moscow used in its attacks, which have killed civilians and destroyed much of Ukraine's infrastructure, were made in Iran.

Tehran then claimed it had provided Moscow with drones before its war on Ukraine began.

Collaboration and collusion

Drones manufactured by Iran have become a major feature of the Russian invasion of Ukraine and are in regular use in Syria, where both Iran and Russia have a strong presence in support of al-Assad's regime.

Iran and Russia have formed an increasingly strong alliance as two isolated pariah states. But Russia's dependency on Iran for weapons has been surprising to the world, as the Kremlin has touted its military prowess for decades.

"I see the implications of that relationship [Iran-Russia] playing out a little bit in Syria. Who would have ever thought that the Russian Federation would need to go to Iran for military capability? And yet we're there," Grynkewich said.

In August, Tehran unveiled its "Mohajer-10" attack drone, and Russian President Vladimir Putin gave North Korean leader Kim Jong Un a gift of drones when he visited the Russian Far East earlier this month.

"I'm concerned about the level of collaboration that might happen between Russian forces (and) the amount of cooperation and collusion between Russia and Iran that's playing out in Syria," Grynkewich told reporters in Abu Dhabi.

The United States has said that in addition to providing Russia with drones, Iran is helping Moscow build a plant to manufacture drones.

The United States on Tuesday imposed sanctions on seven individuals and four companies in China, Russia and Turkiyë that officials say are connected with the development of Iran's drone program.

They include a previously sanctioned Iranian drone company doing business as Shahin Co., its managing executives, a group of Russian parts manufacturers and two Turkish money exchangers: Mehmet Tokdemir and Alaaddin Aykut.

US Treasury official Brian E. Nelson said Iran's "continued, deliberate proliferation" of its drone program enables Russia "and other destabilizing actors to undermine global stability."

Presence in Syria

Russian and Iranian forces have a prominent presence in Syria, although Iranians have had the upper hand since Russia's war on Ukraine started.

Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Quds Force (IRGC-QF) has directed recent militia deployments to Deir Ezzor province, according to an August report published by the Institute for the Study of War.

Iranian militiamen were primarily deployed to lines of control with the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), the report said.

The IRGC-QF also oversaw the deployment of Iranian-backed militias to areas near the 55km-radius exclusion zone around al-Tanf garrison in the tri-border area of southern Syria, it said.

Unspecified Russian forces transferred 17 trucks of weapons to Iranian-backed militias in Deir Ezzor city between June 19 and 20, according to the report.

Improving drones

Documents indicate that Moscow has moved toward its goal of manufacturing a variant of the Iranian Shahed-136, an attack drone capable of traveling more than 1,000 miles (1,609km), the Washington Post reported August 17.

Engineers in a Tatarstan region facility are trying to improve Iran's dated manufacturing techniques, using Russian industrial expertise to produce the drones on a larger scale than Tehran, and with greater quality control, it said.

Russia converts Iran's Shahed-136 into what it calls Geran-2, which it uses in its attacks on Ukraine.

The improved drone, which Ukrainians refer to as a "moped" because of its loud noise, can carry a 118-pound (53.5kg) payload toward a target selected before its launch.

In November, a Kyiv-based think tank was one of the first nongovernmental organizations to examine the wreckage from a Russian Geran-2 drone downed in Ukraine.

It found that the drone's key parts -- the motor and warhead -- were produced by Tehran, the Washington Post reported.