This is stated in the publication of the newspaper The Wall Street Journal, which refers to officials of one of the countries allied to the United States.

According to the interlocutors of the publication, Moscow and Tehran are trying to create a faster drone that will be less vulnerable to the Ukrainian air defense.

Last December, the administration of US President Joe Biden warned that Moscow and Tehran were considering the possibility of building a joint line for the production of drones in Russia.

Now, according to officials connected to Washington, the negotiations have turned into concrete plans - with the visit of the Iranian delegation to the city of Yelabuga, in Tatarstan, on January 5.

There, its members visited an empty site where a factory is planned to be built in the future.

The Iranian delegation was led by Brigadier General Abdallah Mehrabi, who is part of the leadership of the Aerospace Forces of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, as well as Ghasem Damavandyan, the managing director of the Quds Aviation Industry company, which, according to the United States, plays a key role in the production of Iranian drones.

Russian and Iranian representatives did not respond to the newspaper's requests for comment, notes The Wall Street Journal.

• Kyiv accuses Moscow of using Iranian Shahed kamikaze drones to attack civilian objects during the war.

  According to the news from the American side, Tehran has already handed over to Moscow hundreds of drones that Russia used to destroy military and civilian targets in Ukraine.

  Russia denies the accusations.

  In November last year, Iran for the first time acknowledged the delivery of the drones to Russia, but claims that a limited batch of them was sent before the invasion.