Zelenskiy Says Russia Supplied Iran With Shahed Drones Used Against U.S. Bases and Israel

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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has accused Russia of supplying Iran with Shahed drones that have been used to strike U.S. bases and Israel, saying in a CNN interview that the claim is “100% facts.” The excerpt of the interview with Fareed Zakaria aired on Saturday and represents a sharp assertion from Kyiv about the transfer and use of the Iranian-designed loitering munitions.

Zelenskiy told Zakaria that Iran has employed Russian-made Shahed drones in attacks on U.S. facilities, framing the allegation as certain rather than speculative. The president’s comments mark an escalation in public accusations linking Moscow not only to the use and manufacture of the drones but also to their deployment by Tehran against third-party targets.

Shahed drones were pioneered by Iran as a lower-cost alternative to ballistic and cruise missiles and first drew international attention during Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Ukrainian officials say thousands of Shahed unmanned aerial vehicles have been launched by Russian forces since autumn 2022. While Iran originally supplied many of the systems, the platform’s design and tactics have been widely copied; Russia now produces its own version of the drones and other countries’ armed forces have adopted Shahed-type systems as well.

The spread of the technology has complicated attribution in attacks across the region because the manufacturers and operators are not always clear. Shahed and Shahed-type drones have been linked to strikes in multiple countries beyond Iran and Russia, though investigators and officials sometimes face difficulty determining whether an airframe is Iranian-made, a Russian copy, or modified by a third party.

U.S. military officials have in recent weeks referenced “Shahed-type” drones in describing the tools used in campaigns connected to tensions with Iran, signalling Washington’s awareness that the systems are operating across theatres and being repurposed by different actors. The U.S. has not publicly confirmed Zelenskiy’s specific allegation that Russian-made Shaheds were used by Iran to hit U.S. bases, and the president’s office did not provide additional evidence in the CNN excerpt.

Analysts say the rapid proliferation of relatively inexpensive loitering munitions like the Shahed family alters the strategic environment by enabling massed, scalable strikes at lower cost than traditional missiles. Zelenskiy’s comments add to mounting international concern about the diffusion of drone technology and could further strain relations between Russia and Western countries if substantiated.

This development updates the ongoing narrative about Shahed drones: what began as an Iranian innovation has become a widely emulated weapon system, with Kyiv now publicly alleging direct Russian involvement in supplying drones used against U.S. and Israeli targets. The assertion, if corroborated, would deepen questions about responsibility for attacks in the region and the international spread of drone capabilities.