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Iran has supplied Ethiopia with armed drones used by the Ethiopian military in the ongoing war in northern Tigray, the U.S. State Department said on Tuesday.
Iran delivered the Mohajer-6 unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) to Ethiopia in the summer of 2021, according to Vedant Patel, principal deputy spokesman for the U.S. State Department.
“We informed the UN that Iran transferred the Mohajer-6 drone to Ethiopia last summer,” Patel said.
In addition to Ethiopia, Iran has also sent drones to Moscow for use in Russia’s war with Ukraine.
Patel said Iran’s supply of military drones to the two countries violated permanent UN Security Council resolutions.
According to multiple reports, following the outbreak of the Tigray conflict in November 2020, the Ethiopian military used drones from Iran, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates and China.
for the Tigray War
Earlier, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed had said that military drones were used in the Tigray war.
Speaking on state television in November last year, Ethiopian Air Force Commander Major General Yerma Merdasa confirmed that Ethiopia had used drones in the war.
However, military officials did not say which country’s drone was used.
“This is a time when we can fight with buttons sitting in innings, pressing the buttons we want, and we can destroy targets. We’re building the Air Force that way,” Mordasa said.
Last year, Plant SkySat satellite imagery analyzed by Bellingcat.com spotted two Mohajer-6 drones and a ground control station (GCS) on August 1 at the Samara Airport (now Ethiopian Air Force Base) in northeastern Ethiopia. .
The GCS was photographed a few days later when Prime Minister Abiy visited the air base.
Launched in 2017
Mohajer-6 is the latest design in the Mohajer series. It was unveiled in 2017 and entered production a year later, serving with the Iranian Revolutionary Guards.
The Mohajer-6, manufactured by Codes Aviation, has an operational range of 200 kilometers and can carry 40 kilograms of precision-guided munitions.
The drones Ethiopia is said to have used in the country’s civil war include the Turkish-made Bayraktar TB-2.
The drone, built by Baykar Defence, can weigh up to 150 kilograms, can be controlled from a distance of 300 kilometers, and will perform missions at altitudes of 18,000 to 27,000 feet.
Patel said the United States had notified the United Nations of Iran’s delivery of unmanned fighter jets to Russia, noting that it violated UN Security Council Resolution 2231.
“The transfer will be subject to this restriction and will be restricted,” he told reporters of the resolution.
Drone use in Ethiopia has increased dramatically over the past two months after heavy fighting resumed in August, ending a six-month truce between the warring parties.