Director of Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) William Burns warned that the strategic and military alliance between Iran and Russia is developing further and is likely to manifest itself in wider swaths of the Middle East with ‘deadly’ consequences.
“I’m quite worried. I mean, you know, historically, there’s a lot of mistrust between Russians and Iranians, but they need each other right now,” Burns told a US public broadcaster when asked about alleged use by Russian forces of Iranian drones in Ukraine.
“What’s beginning to emerge is at least the beginnings of a full-fledged defense partnership between Russia and Iran, with the Iranians supplying drones to the Russians, which are killing Ukrainian civilians as we speak today,” Bill Burns told PBS.
“The Russians are beginning to look at ways in which, technologically or technically, they can support the Iranians, which poses real threats to Iran’s own neighborhood, to many of our friends and partners in Iran’s neighborhood as well.” The relationship between Tehran and Moscow was “already having an impact on the battlefield in Ukraine, again, costing the lives of a lot of innocent Ukrainians.”
“I think it can have an even more dangerous impact on the Middle East as well if it continues. So, it’s something that we take very, very seriously,” Burns said.
Source: Agencies
