The two countries are deepening a military partnership that has worried the West.

The Wall Street Journal writes about it. 

Moscow and Tehran are pursuing plans to build a new factory in Russia that could produce at least 6,000 Iranian-designed drones for the war against Ukraine, the latest sign of deepening cooperation between the two countries, officials said.

As part of the formation of the military alliance, a high-ranking Iranian delegation flew to Russia in early January to visit the planned site of the plant and agree details to launch the project, officials said.

Officials said both countries are seeking to create a faster drone that could create new challenges for Ukrainian air defense.

Tehran has already provided Moscow with hundreds of drones, which it used to strike military and civilian targets in Ukraine, US officials said.

And the Biden administration has warned that Russia and Iran are developing a full-fledged defense partnership.

The White House says Moscow has been training Iranian pilots to fly Russian fighter jets with the intention of sending those planes to Tehran by the end of the year.

In December, the White House warned that Moscow and Tehran were considering building a joint drone production line in Russia.

Now, U.S. officials say, the talks have turned into concrete plans for a Jan. 5 visit to the Russian city of Yelabuga, about 600 miles east of Moscow.

They said they visited an empty site where the leaders of the two countries plan to build a new factory capable of producing at least 6,000 drones in the coming years.

Officials said the Iranian delegation was led by Brigadier General Abdullah Mehrabi, head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Aerospace Research and Self-Reliance Jihad Organization, and Ghassem Damavandian, chief executive of Iran's Quds Aviation Industry, a key defense manufacturer that the U.S. believes is key in the country's drone development and construction.

Russian and Iranian officials did not respond to requests for comment on the report.

So far, Iran has provided Russia mostly with so-called suicide drones, known as Shahed-136s, which contain small amounts of explosives that detonate when the drones crash into their targets, U.S. and Ukrainian officials say.

Russia has used drones to target Ukraine's power grid in an attempt to disrupt the country's electricity supply during the cold winter and undermine morale.

Subsequently, the Air Defense Forces of Ukraine managed to largely neutralize the threat of drones.

The Shahed-136 is a slow and noisy unmanned aerial vehicle with propeller engines, making it relatively easy to spot and shoot down.

According to the country's air force, Ukraine has shot down more than 540 drones since they began appearing in the country's skies last fall.

Now, officials said, Iran is working with Russia to develop the Shahed-136, which is expected to include a new engine to fly faster and further.

The new factory will produce an improved drone.

This may create new challenges for Ukraine and other countries that may become targets for drones.

The factory has not yet started work, so the production line is not expected to have an immediate impact on the balance of power in Ukraine, where there are signs that Russia will launch a new offensive in the coming weeks.

We will remind that on January 6, the US Treasury 

, which were used to attack civilian objects in Ukraine.

According to a January 27 report by the American Institute for the Study of War (ISW), the Russian military has drones left for only a few large-scale strikes. 

Read also:

• Ukraine news

• War in Ukraine

• News of Ukraine: video

Subscribe to our

 and

channels .