UK Def Min-Russia To Supply Iran w/Adv Military Components For Drones

Speaking in the British House of Commons, UK Secretary of State for Defence Ben Wallace states that Russia intends to supply Iran with 'advanced military components' in exchange for drones for use in Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.

• Dan Sabbagh at The Guardian summarises Wallace's comments: "Britain's "expertise and advice", Wallace tells MPs, is helping Ukraine "better coordinate and synchronise their air defence". But 40% of Ukraine's "energy infrastructure" has been bombed - a "flagrant breach of international humanitarian law and the law of armed conflict. UK promises to help train "at least" 20k Ukrainian troops in 2023. Wallace said that 10k were given basic training during 2022."
• The provision of drones to Russia from Tehran has raised concerns in the West that in exchange Russia could provide Iran with tech to speed up it development of nuclear weapons.
• With the West seeking to pressure Iran due to the gov't crackdown on protesters, and a right-wing gov't set to come to power in Israel, the prospect of any resumption of the Iran nuclear deal seems slim at best. As such, Iran could seek to accelerate development of nukes, raising risk external action from US or Israel.