IRAN is secretly buying parts for killer drones from China and selling them on to Tehran-backed militias to carry out terror strikes on Western targets, a bombshell report reveals.
The drones, also known as unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV), are controlled remotely by pilots who can wreak havoc from miles away.
According to a report by the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) – which has sources within the secretive state – the Islamic Republic's armed forces export the killing machines to Syria, Iraq, Lebanon and Yemen.
The flying weapons are believed to be behind a series of deadly strikes across the region in recent years – including on the Mercer Street oil tanker off the coast of Oman in August that left a Brit dead.
Most recently, an RAF Typhoon fighter yet on Tuesday shot down a suspected Iran-backed militia drone that buzzed the At Tanf coalition air base in southern Syria.
The same day, the US military claimed to have also shot down one of two drones threatening the base.
It is not clear if the two incidents are linked.
It was also here that a drone successfully launched a strike on October 25, with the Pentagon publicly naming Iran as being behind the attack that involved as many as five aircraft laden with explosives.
And a devastating 2019 strike on two major Saudi oil bases sparked disastrous blazes that threatened the global fuel supply.
ASSEMBLED BY TERRORISTS
It is alleged the drones are shipped in parts and then assembled in the host country by local mercenaries who have received training from the Iranians.
The NCRI report claims the regime is using the drones as "an instrument to instigate conflict and terrorism in the region in order to keep the clerical dictatorship in power."
The current drone commander in the Iranian Armed Forces is Brigadier
General Karim Akbarloo who reportedly travels to China to "procure more advanced equipment."
One company in Iran, Ghazanfar Roknabadi Industries – located in Karaj in the south of the country – builds different body parts for the drones.
The report says the raw materials for the production of drones,
such as fabrics and special fibres, are imported from the Asian superpower.
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Iran has been directly involved in the Syrian civil war since 2011 supporting dictator Bashar al-Assad's bloodthirsty regime while also funding local militia groups.
The report alleges that drone commanders of the Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard (IRGC) are stationed in cities Palmyra, Deir ez-Zor, Al-Bukamal and at Damascus's Al-Mazza Airport.
Parts such as the UAV engines are reportedly bought directly from China and shipped to the war zone where they are assembled.
IRAQ ATTACKS
Another warzone which Iran is trying to influence is Iraq, where it has reportedly been selling drones to affiliated militias for years.
Iraqi mercenary groups use the kamikaze drones to "carry out large-scale attacks on international coalition forces based in Iraq which have killed and wounded coalition forces and civilian contractors", the report says.
One such incident at Erbil Airport involved an American civilian contractor who was killed in February this year.
Iran also has trained members of the Lebanese terror group Hezbollah in drone manufacturing and has subsequently sold several of the aircraft to the fanatical extremists, it has been reported
It is claimed that one of many front companies in Iran received a $2million contract from the regime to produce drones for Hezbollah.
The war in Yemen is the world's biggest humanitarian crisis and is effectively a proxy war between Iran and regional rival Saudi Arabia.
According to the report, the IRGC’s Quds Force also provides drones to the Houthi rebels "on a wide scale".
The group regularly uses UAVs to unleash bombing attacks on Saudi territory.
According to a report in 2016, the seizure of six drones being transferred from Oman to Yemen – which is a common smuggling route –
shows that the aircrafts were not made in Yemen but transferred from Iran.
Alireza Jafarzadeh, of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, told The Sun: "Iranian regime is spending billions of dollars on its missiles and UAV programs, while 80 per cent of Iranians live below poverty line. Billions of dollars regime received from nuclear deal sanctions relief have been used to export regional terrorism and warmongering.
"This regime is very weak. But they want to project power and cover their weakness. The regime is in big trouble domestically inside Iran. Anti-regime protests that started in 2017 have continued."
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