Israel's nemesis Iran is helping the Kremlin in its war against Ukraine. Despite this, Tel Aviv has so far not been able to bring itself to arms aid for Kyiv. President Zelenskyy points out that Tehran could demand cooperation from Moscow in the construction of a nuclear bomb in return for its drone deliveries.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy suspects Russian involvement in Iran's nuclear program as part of payment for Iranian drones. Zelenskyy said so in a video message for a conference of the Israeli newspaper Haaretz. The Ukrainian President again asked Israel to deliver weapons to rule out the threat of Russian airstrikes with Iranian combat drones. "I have a question for you: How do you think Russia is paying Iran? Is Iran only interested in money? Maybe it's not about money at all, but about Russian help for the Iranian nuclear program," said Zelenskyy. Moscow and Tehran deny an arms deal.
However, there is evidence that the drones that Russia has recently used in the hundreds against Ukraine come from Iran or are of Iranian design. When using the drones, the Russian army is instructed by Iranians, Zelenskyj said. This alliance and the Russian attacks would not have happened if Israel had already decided in 2014 to provide arms to Ukraine, Zelenskyy said. At that time, Russia had annexed the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea and started the war in the Donbass. However, it is not too late to counter terrorism together as democratic states, said the Ukrainian President.
In Ukraine it is assumed that Israel is familiar with the weapons systems of its archenemy Iran and has effective defensive weapons. In order not to jeopardize its relations with Moscow, Israel has so far largely held back in Russia's war of aggression, which has been going on for almost eight months. Diaspora Minister Nachman Shai recently demanded that, in view of the Iranian supplies to Russia, Israel must deviate from this position and also supply Ukraine with weapons. So far, that's not the official line.
Tel Aviv turned down an acute Ukrainian request for Israeli help with air defenses just last week. A military expert from the Israeli newspaper "Jediot Achronot" wrote that Israel will not provide Ukraine with the Iron Dome missile defense system for various reasons. "First, we don't have enough ourselves," he wrote. In addition, Israeli soldiers with the appropriate expertise would have to operate the defense batteries.
