According to a recent CNN story, Iranians have been found in possession of military equipment given to Ukraine by the United States and its NATO partners.
According to four sources familiar with the situation who spoke on condition of anonymity, “Russia has been taking some of the US and NATO-provided weapons and equipment left on the battlefield in Ukraine and sending them to Iran, where the US believes Tehran will try to reverse-engineer the systems.” CNN cited the sources.
According to CNN, “US, NATO, and other Western sources have seen many instances of Russian forces capturing smaller, shoulder-fired weaponry, including Javelin anti-tank and Stinger anti-aircraft systems that Ukrainian forces have occasionally been compelled to leave behind on the battlefield.
The report stated, “In many of those situations, Russia has transported the equipment to Iran for disassembly and analysis, perhaps so the Iranian military might try to create their own version of the weapons. Russia believes that by continuing to give Iran captured Western weapons, Tehran will continue to support Moscow’s conflict in Ukraine.
According to experts, Iran is trying to reverse-engineer the weapons to modify them for its own military manufacture.
According to Jonathan Lord, senior fellow and director of the Center for a New American Security’s Middle East security program, Iran has already shown the ability to reverse-engineer US weaponry. “They developed a nearly identical copy of the TOW anti-tank guided missile they termed the Toophan by reverse engineering, and they have since distributed it to the Houthis and Hezbollah. With a Stinger, Iran could do the same, endangering regional military and commercial aviation. Hamas or Hezbollah might employ a Javelin that has been reverse-engineered to pose a threat to an Israeli Merkava tank. These weapons represent a serious danger to Israel’s conventional armed forces in the hands of Iran’s agents.
During questioning from Rep. Matt Gaetz during a recent hearing, Pentagon Inspector General Robert Storch refused to say if the Department of Defense had complied with the law on the tracking of the weapons it had provided Ukraine.
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Source: Becker News Rephrased By: InfoArmed