Russian missile experts visit Iran

EghtesadOnline:  Several senior Russian missile specialists have visited Iran over the past year as the Islamic Republic has deepened its defence cooperation with Moscow, Reuters claimed in a report citing a review of travel records and employment data.

The seven weapons experts were booked to travel from Moscow to Tehran aboard two flights on April 24 and September 17 last year, according to documents detailing the two group bookings as well as the passenger manifest for the second flight.

The booking records include the men's passport numbers, with six of the seven having the prefix "20". That denotes a passport used for official state business, issued to government officials on foreign work trips and military personnel stationed abroad, according to an edict published by the Russian government and a document on the Russian foreign ministry's website.

Reuters was unable to determine what the seven were doing in Iran.

Reuters claimed that a senior Iranian defence ministry official said Russian missile experts had made multiple visits to Iranian missile production sites last year, including two underground facilities, with some of the visits taking place in September. The official, who requested anonymity to discuss security matters, didn't identify the sites.

The seven Russians identified by Reuters all have senior military backgrounds, with two ranked colonel and two lieutenant-colonel, according to a review of Russian databases containing information about citizens' jobs or places of work, including tax, phone and vehicle records.

Two are experts in air-defence missile systems, three specialize in artillery and rocketry, while one has a background in advanced weapons development and another has worked at a missile-testing range, the records showed. Reuters was unable to establish whether all are still working in those roles as the employment data ranged from 2021 to 2024.

Reuters contacted all the men by phone: five of them denied they had been to Iran, denied they worked for the military or both, while one declined to comment and one hung up.

Iran's defence and foreign ministries declined to comment for this article, as did the public relations office of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. / Mehr