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CIA: Russia’s efforts to buy drones from Iran indicates military weakness
The Chief of the CIA said that Russia reaching out to Iran to buy armed drones is a sign that Moscow’s military is in a weak state.
William Burns, the Director of the CIA said:
“It’s true that the Russians are reaching out to the Iranians to try to acquire armed drones. They need each other, they don’t really trust each other, in the sense that they’re energy rivals and historical competitors. It’s important to remind ourselves that it’s a reflection, in some ways, of the deficiencies of Russia’s defense industry today, and the difficulties they’re having after significant losses so far in the war against Ukraine.”
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Iran to send Russia armed drones: White House <a href="https://t.co/mQbF5WZMTA">https://t.co/mQbF5WZMTA</a></p>— Al Jazeera English (@AJEnglish) <a href="https://twitter.com/AJEnglish/status/1546653210315821057?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 12, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Earlier this week, Vladimir Putin, the president of Russia and aggressor towards Ukraine visited Tehran, Iran. According to Burns, the two nations are cohorts in a joint effort to circumvent sanctions by the US through an alliance.
Burns acknowledges that the Russian-Iranian drone deal is “troubling” but is skeptical over the two countries willingness to work closely in a meaningful way.
Burns, who has served as Executive Secretary of the State Department, Special Assistant to Secretaries Warren Christopher and Madeleine Albright, and Minister-Counselor for Political Affairs at the U.S. Embassy in Moscow, once joked, “most of the gray hair on top of my head came from negotiating with Russians and Iranians over the years.” In response to rumors about Putin’s poor health, Burns quipped, “As far as we can tell, he is entirely too healthy.”
The CIA Chief also said that China is likely concerned over Russia’s war with Ukraine galvanizing relations between the US and her European allies. According to burns, this means that the likelihood of Taiwan being invaded by China “becomes higher the further into this decade we get.”
Burns said:
“It seems to me that President Xi and the Chinese leadership have been unsettled to some extent, especially in the first phase of Putin’s war in Ukraine, by what they saw. Unsettled by the military performance of the Russians early on, and the performance of Russian weaponry. Unsettled by the economic uncertainties that the war has unleashed around the world in a year, 2022, when I think Xi Jinping’s main concern is getting through a very important congress. The lesson the Chinese leadership, the military are drawing is that you’ve got to amass overwhelming force.”
Burns also said that China will likely be heavily focused on fighting US sanctions and compromising relations between the US and Asian allies.
