US and NATO weapons sent to Ukraine now in Iran: report

Military aid provided by the United States and its NATO allies to Ukraine is ending up in the hands of the Iranians, according to a new CNN report.

“Russia has been capturing some of the US-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,” they say four sources familiar with the matter. CNN.

“Over the past year, US, NATO and other Western officials have seen several instances of Russian forces seizing smaller, shoulder-fired weapons equipment, including Javelin anti-aircraft systems and Stinger that Ukrainian forces have at times been forced to leave behind. on the battlefield,” CNN added.

“In many of these cases, Russia has sent the equipment to Iran for disassembly and analysis, presumably so that the Iranian military can attempt to make its own version of the weapons,” the report continued. “Russia believes that continuing to provide captured Western weapons to Iran will incentivize Tehran to maintain its support for Russia’s war in Ukraine.”

Experts believe the Iranians are trying to reverse engineer the weaponry to suit their own military production.

“Iran has demonstrated the ability to reverse engineer US weapons in the past,” said Jonathan Lord, a senior fellow and director of the Middle East security program at the Center for a New American Security. . “They reverse-engineered the TOW anti-tank guided missile, creating a near-perfect replica they called the Toophan, and have since proliferated it to the Houthis and Hezbollah. Iran could do the same with a Stinger, which could threaten the civil and military aviation throughout the region. A reverse-engineered Javelin could be used by Hamas or Hezbollah to threaten an Israeli Merkava tank. In the hands of Iran’s proxies, these weapons pose a real threat to conventional military forces in Israel”.

Pentagon Inspector General Robert Storch, during a recent hearing, did not say whether the Defense Department had followed the law in tracking weapons it has given to Ukraine, under questioning by Rep. Matt Gaetz.

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