Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment he has made of recent reports that Iran is assisting Russia with building a factory in Russia capable of building 6,000 Iranian-designed drones.

The UK has repeatedly raised Iran's deplorable support for the Russian military campaign in Ukraine, including at the UN Security Council on 19 October and 19 December. Russia is using drones supplied by Iran to target civilian infrastructure in Ukraine. Iran's transfers of drones to Russia violates UN Security Council Resolution 2231; this resolution also prohibits the transfer of some equipment and technologies without prior permission from the UN Security Council. On 20 October and 13 December, the UK imposed sanctions against Iranian individuals and entities involved in transfers, including against the Iranian officials cited in the reports referred to.