Weapons supplied by the US and NATO to Ukraine were seized by Russia on Ukrainian soil, and sent to Iran, so that it could try and create its own version of the weapons, the American CNN reported. The sources also added that the purpose of sending the weapons is to continue to encourage Tehran to support Russia’s war against Ukraine.
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Over the past year, the US, NATO and other Western bodies have identified cases in which Russian forces captured weapons and equipment such as shoulder-fired missiles, anti-tank and anti-aircraft systems, which the Ukrainians were forced to leave behind on the battlefield.
It was also reported that the US does not believe that this is a widespread or systematic phenomenon, and the Ukrainian army has been reporting to the Pentagon about the loss of American weapons to the Russians since the beginning of the war, but the American officials admitted that it is difficult to closely monitor and supervise the issue.
It is not yet clear whether Iran has successfully carried out a process of “reverse engineering” for any Western weapons seized in Ukraine, but Tehran has demonstrated its capabilities in developing weapon systems based on previously seized American equipment.