China is one of 90 countries “queuing up” to buy Iranian drones, a senior Iran Intelligence Ministry official had said, according to a report by the moderate Entekhab news agency on February 8.
The official, who was only identified as the director of the Intelligence Ministry’s Think Tank for Political Research, made the remarks during a book-unveiling ceremony at the international Imam Khomeini University in the city of Qazvin.
“Our power has grown to levels where China is waiting in line to buy 15,000 of our drones,” said the official.
The official hailed Iran’s “look to the east” policy, which was introduced by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The policy calls for an expansion of ties with China and Russia as a long-term strategy to fight off “Western hegemony” and mitigate sanctions imposed on Iran.
Last year, the West accused Iran of supplying Russia with hundreds of drones for use in the special military operation in Ukraine. Several sanctions were introduced against Tehran in response to the alleged drone deal, which was denied by Moscow.
The Shahed-136 suicide drone, which carries a 50-kg warhead and has a range of up to 2,500 kilometers, was reportedly the main system exported to Russia.
The talk of a possible drone deal with China came only a few days after a Wall Street Journal report which said that Iran was helping with the setup of a factory in Russia where some 6,000 Iran-designed drones were planned to be manufactured. Tehran has already denied these claims.
Iran has a history of military cooperation with China. However, the two counties didn’t cooperate in drone development or production in the past.