Putin’s ‘hidden hand’ lies behind Iran’s drone tactics, UK defence secretary says

Original article by Dan Sabbagh and Julian Borger

Vladimir Putin’s “hidden hand” lies behind Iran’s military methods, the UK defence secretary has said, after a night in which drones struck a base used by western forces in Erbil, northern Iraq.

John Healey was speaking after British officers at the UK’s military headquarters in north-west London told him that drone pilots from Iran and Iranian proxies were increasingly adopting tactics “from the Russians”.

Iran has already fired more than 2,000 Shahed drones – long-range weapons heavily used by Russia against Ukraine – across the Middle East in response to the US-Israeli attack launched on 28 February.

Lt Gen Nick Perry, the chief of joint operations, told Healey as he visited the UK’s military command centre in Northwood it appeared that Russia had since passed back tactical advice to Iran and its proxies on how to deploy them.

Iranian drone pilots were “flying them much lower, and therefore they were more effective” in hitting targets, Perry said. That had “proven problematic”, he said, because Shahed drones were becoming one of Tehran’s more effective weapons as the conflict heads towards a third week.

Overnight, a number of drones struck a western military base in Erbil, where British military personnel were based. A UK counter-drone team there shot down two others. There were no British casualties.

Talking to journalists after his briefing, Healey said: “I think no one will be surprised to believe that Putin’s hidden hand is behind some of the Iranian tactics and potentially, potentially some of their capabilities as well.”

He argued that was partly “because the one world leader that is benefiting from sky-high oil prices at the moment is Putin, because it helps him with a fresh supply of funds for his brutal war in Ukraine”.

Tehran signalled its defiance on Thursday with a statement issued in the name of Mojtaba Khamenei, who succeeded his father as supreme leader after the late ayatollah was killed at the start of the war.

The declaration, delivered by a newsreader on state television, gave no clues on the state of the reportedly wounded leader’s health. It vowed Iran would continue to attack US bases in the region and keep the strait of Hormuz closed.

The International Energy Agency said the war had already caused the “largest supply disruption in history” on world oil markets. The US president, Donald Trump, shrugged off the impact of oil price spikes, writing on his Truth Social platform that because the US was the world’s biggest oil producer, “we make a lot of money”.

Ali Larijani, the secretary of Iran’s supreme national security council, issued a rebuke to Trump’s repeated claims over the past two weeks that the conflict would be over quickly.

“Trump says he is looking for a speedy victory,” Larijani said on X. “While starting a war is easy, it cannot be won with a few tweets. We will not relent until making you sorry for this grave miscalculation.”

The Tasnim news agency, associated with Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, broadcast footage of missiles being launched against the country’s enemies, though it was not possible to verify how old the footage was.

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Russia and Iran have cooperated on military issues since Putin launched the invasion of Ukraine in 2022, with Iran supplying and then passing on the design for Shahed 136 deltawing drones. US sources say that in return Moscow has passed Tehran military intelligence in the past fortnight, though the Putin denied doing so in a phone call with Trump on Monday.

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Healey said he had discussed what was in effect the closure of the strait of Hormuz with the E5 group of European defence ministers on Wednesday, and that there were “clearer and clearer” reports that Iran was trying to mine the strategic waterway through which around a fifth of the world’s oil supply passes.

The UK had some “autonomous systems” available in the Middle East that could be used to search for Iranian mines, he said, though a mine-hunting vessel previously in the region, HMS Middleton, had returned to the UK for maintenance.

Two oil tankers moored five miles of the Iraqi coast were set on fire in an attack on Wednesday night. Iran claimed responsibility for what it said was an underwater drone strike that left one person confirmed dead and Iraq announcing it would suspend its oil terminal operations.

The effective closure of the strait, partly by drone attacks on oil tankers and cargo vessels, has pushed the oil price to about $100 a barrel. The quickest way of ending the blockade would be through “a de-escalation of the conflict”, Healey said.

The US energy secretary, Chris Wright, said that the US navy was not able to escort ships through the strait of Hormuz now but it was “quite likely” that could happen by the end of the month. The US military remained focused on destroying Iran’s offensive capabilities for now, he said.

Other countries, including France, have signalled they might be willing to assist in convoying merchant shipping if the conflict eased. Healey did not rule out that the UK could eventually participate, but a formal proposal is not thought to be close while the US vacillates over the issue.

Britain has no available warships in or near the region other than HMS Dragon, which set sail on Tuesday for Cyprus, where it will protect UK airbases, on a voyage expected to last up to a week.