Top defense officials from Iran and Belarus have held talks in Tehran on the establishment of a commission for military cooperation between the two countries, Iranian state media reported.
The August 1 meeting between Mohammad Bagheri, the head of the General Staff of Iran’s Armed Forces, and visiting Belarusian Defense Minister Viktor Khrenin took place one day after Tehran and Minsk signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) in the field of defense cooperation.
Speaking at the meeting, Bagheri said that “defense and security cooperation” between the two countries “should be expanded today in response to the changes that are taking place in the global power structure.”
“The world’s geopolitical landscape is swiftly transitioning from a unipolar state to a multipolar world,” he added.
On July 31, Khrenin and his Iranian counterpart, Defense Minister Mohammad Reza Ashtiani, oversaw the signing of the MOU to cooperate in the field of defense.
No details have been disclosed, but the Critical Threats Project (CTP) at the American Enterprise Institute assessed that Ashtiani and Khrenin may have discussed “establishing Shahed kamikaze drone factories in Belarus to support the Russian invasion of Ukraine.”
The Islamic Republic “is pursuing the construction of drone factories in Belarus and Russia, which will help Russia acquire Iranian drones more readily and provide Iran with numerous economic and military benefits,” it said.
In May, Ukraine claimed that Iranian engineers are exploring how to convert factories in the Belarusian city of Gomel into drone production facilities. The following month, the US administration said Iran was helping Russia build a drone manufacturing factory in Yelabuga, Tatarstan.
The European Union, the United States and other countries have imposed several rounds of sanctions on Iran for supplying Russia with drones that are used to hit military targets, as well as civilian infrastructure and residential areas in Ukraine.
Russia and its ally Belarus are also subject to Western sanctions.
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