Iran has acknowledged for the first time that it has provided drones to Russia.

Iran's state-run news agency says Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian told reporters in the capital, Tehran, on Saturday that Iran "gave a limited number of drones to Russia months before the Ukraine war."

Ukraine and Western countries have criticized Iran for what they see as its involvement in Russia's procurement of drones since Russian forces began to use them in September in their attacks across Ukraine.

The allegations prompted the United States and EU member nations to impose sanctions against Iran.

However, Iran denied allegations that it had supplied Russia with drones to be used in Ukraine.
Amirabdollahian's remark was an about-face from Iran's previous claim.

The news agency quoted Amirabdollahian as saying that "if Ukraine has any documents in their possession that Russia used Iranian drones in Ukraine, they should provide them to us." He noted that he and his Ukrainian counterpart are in agreement on the matter.

Amirabdollahian was also quoted as saying, "If it is proven to us that Russia used Iranian drones in the war against Ukraine, we will not be indifferent to this issue."

International pressure on Iran has been growing over the allegations.

In a joint statement, a group of former Iranian diplomats has also criticized the response of Iran's government to the allegations.

Ukraine's Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov told reporters on Friday that Russian forces have almost used up their first batch of 300 Iranian drones in their attacks on military and civilian infrastructure in Ukraine.

He noted that an additional 1,500 to 2,400 drones are planned to be shipped by Iran. He added that he hopes Iran will not fulfil its shipment to Russia.