(JERUSALEM) Iran is seeking to “deepen and expand” its supply of advanced weapons to Russia, currently embroiled in a war in Ukraine, the head of Mossad, the Israeli foreign intelligence service, argued Thursday evening.
In late October, Israeli President Isaac Herzog said he had shared with the United States, according to Israeli intelligence, the use of Iranian drones in the war in Ukraine.
In a speech at the Israeli presidency on Thursday evening during a ceremony marking Hanukkah, the Jewish festival of lights, Mossad chief David Barnia was quoted by local press as confirming the intention to supply Iran with more advanced equipment. For Russia, without describing this weapon.
“We are warning about Iran’s future intentions, which it is trying to keep secret, to deepen and expand its exports of advanced weapons to Russia,” Barnia said.
Despite Iran’s lies, we have already drawn attention to supplying arms to Russia […] People we know well,” said Mr. Barnea added that his services had “absolute” knowledge of Iran’s alleged sabotage of some of its nuclear sites and assassination of scientists.
The two countries have been waging a shadow war for years. Israel accuses Iran of denying it wants a nuclear bomb and says it will do everything in its power to prevent it from doing so. Israel also wants to counter Iran’s influence in the Middle East.
On Monday, Colonel Dawud Jafari, a member of the Islamic Republic of Iran’s Islamic Republic’s ideological army, the Space Force, was killed in Syria, near Damascus, by a bomb attributed to Israel by Tehran. Guardians Aerospace specializes in the manufacture of drones, missiles, ballistic missiles and satellites.
After the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February, Israel initially took a cautious stance toward Moscow. Israel has argued for special ties between the two countries, saying the Jewish state has more than a million citizens from the former Soviet Union and Russia has troops in Israel’s neighboring Syria.
The now-outgoing Prime Minister, Yaïr Lapid, condemned it as a “gross violation of the international order”. But on Thursday, Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke with future Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu by phone, specifically about the Ukraine issue, Israeli officials said.
