The United States confirmed the presence of Iranian military instructors helping Russians in the occupied territory of Ukraine. They helped the Russian army.

This was announced by John Kirby, Coordinator for Strategic Communications at the National Security Council in the White House, writes Voice of America.

He also said that the United States is considering additional sanctions against Iran and increased assistance to Ukraine in air defense.

“Today we can confirm that the Russian military, based in Crimea, operates with Iranian UAVs, using them to strike at Ukraine, including strikes on Kyiv in recent days. We believe that the Iranian military was in Crimea and helped Russia in these operations,” Kirby said.

According to him, the United States does not know exactly how many Iranian military personnel are in Crimea.

Answering the question why the Russians need instructors from Iran, John Kirby explained that there are no such systems in service with the Russian army, and that the result of previous attempts to launch these kamikaze drones was that there were failures during the launch and control of Iranian UAVs.

The senior official also added that the White House is concerned about Iran’s possible supply of other weapons to Russia, in particular, such as surface-to-surface missiles.

Kirby stressed that the United States will “use all means to expose, deter and resist Iran’s provision of these ammunition against the Ukrainian people,” in particular by imposing new sanctions against Iran and Russia.

The New York Times recently reported that Iran sent instructors to the Russian-occupied territory of Ukraine who help Russians work with Shahed-136 kamikaze drones.

It is noted that Iranian specialists work on the Russian base in the Crimea, where the location of the base of drones after their delivery from Iran is located. They emphasized that the use of Iranian instructors indicates Iran’s deeper participation in the war against Ukraine.

According to the American publication, at first the Russian Federation sent its personnel to Iran for training, but the Russian military still makes mistakes when using kamikaze drones, which makes them ineffective. Because of this, according to NYT sources, Iran sent its instructors to the occupied Crimea.

Ned Price, spokesman for the US Department of State, voiced concern on October 20 about the threat posed by Iranian kamikaze drones outside Ukraine. According to the broadcaster, “these drones pose a risk and a deadly threat to Ukraine, but Iran’s proliferation of UAV technology is a threat far beyond Ukraine.”