'I get on well with Vladi"......

Vladimir Putin’s “hidden hand” lies behind Iran’s military methods, the UK defence secretary has said, after a night in which drones struck a base used by western forces in Erbil, northern Iraq.

John Healey was speaking after British officers at the UK’s military headquarters in north-west London told him that drone pilots from Iran and Iranian proxies were increasingly adopting tactics “from the Russians”.

Iran has already fired more than 2,000 Shahed drones – long-range weapons heavily used by Russia against Ukraine – across the Middle East in response to the US-Israeli attack launched on 28 February.

Lt Gen Nick Perry, the chief of joint operations, told Healey as he visited the UK’s military command centre in Northwood it appeared that Russia had since passed back tactical advice to Iran and its proxies on how to deploy them.

Iranian drone pilots were “flying them much lower, and therefore they were more effective” in hitting targets, Perry said. That had “proven problematic”, he said, because Shahed drones were becoming one of Tehran’s more effective weapons as the conflict heads towards a third week.

Overnight, a number of drones struck a western military base in Erbil, where British military personnel were based. A UK counter-drone team there shot down two others. There were no British casualties.

Talking to journalists after his briefing, Healey said: “I think no one will be surprised to believe that Putin’s hidden hand is behind some of the Iranian tactics and potentially, potentially some of their capabilities as well.”

He argued that was partly “because the one world leader that is benefiting from sky-high oil prices at the moment is Putin, because it helps him with a fresh supply of funds for his brutal war in Ukraine”.

Tehran signalled its defiance on Thursday with a statement issued in the name of Mojtaba Khamenei, who succeeded his father as supreme leader after the late ayatollah was killed at the start of the war.

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Yeah right......so well that Vladi aids the killing of American servicemen.

Yes, and Vlads cronies are being taken out one after the other ... he'll be in the crosshairs soon... he's been warned, he refused to listen...soon...

He’s been warned?

When was that?

The real problem with drones is cost…..at $3500 a unit you can send ‘mass attacks’. If one uses $4 million Patriots to shoot them down, the economics will bury you. In June 2025 Trump anticipated the issue and launched Operation Drone Dominance….aimed at producing 300,000 US drones at a cost approaching $2000 by 2027. Smart move

So funny. There is so much peace around the world. It means lifting sanctions on russian oil. Trump does not care. He does not care at all. It is great. Unilateral decision. Europe is paying the price of sacrificing their best interests to remain aligned with the US for so long.

Do stick to the subject Trad….we are talking about drones

Very funny. See how liberals work: they are so hooked on power. The thread is about Putin's hidden hand.

Which is far from being limited to the drones.

It is very funny. Trump is Putin's strongest ally, no doubt about that.

Putin, a couple of days ago, went out of the woods, offering the EU to furnish them energy. With strings attached, of course. And today, Trump states that he lifted restrictions on Russian oil.

Incredible situation and very funny. It is the kind of situation one is tempted to wonder if Putin and Trump planned it together. Incredible stuff.

As a secondary note, still no comment on the fact that slavery would have been banned earlier if the US did not exist. And still no cause that could exclude the US from having done the strike intentionally.

Slavery would have ended earlier if Africans hadn’t sold their countrymen into slavery. Clearly the continent was rife with black liberals.

What a cope out. Very funny. Can not wait to read causes that exclude the US from doing the school strike. Great laughing ahead.

Well you communists are such jovial types….who is your favorite Russian strong man?

It is another funny thing. Putin is a russian and as such praises russian history. He promotes any russian leader he considers great. Anyone who serves russia's glory has a page in Putin's book.

Strong man is another funny bit as one understanding of freedom by liberals is the ability to follow a strong person. Liberals are people who look for strong people so they can follow.

"Slavery would have ended earlier if Africans hadn’t sold their countrymen into slavery. Clearly the continent was rife with black liberals."

It's estimated that Africa currently has 5-8 million people living in modern slavery.

Southeast Asia is even worse.

Now...how many slave exist in the evil West?

But I'm gonna guess we'll never get Trad and Denise to comment on those numbers.

White man bad.

Correction….only white man bad.

See what I mean...silence.

Predicable and transparent.

"Putin, a couple of days ago, went out of the woods, offering the EU to furnish them energy. With strings attached, of course. And today, Trump states that he lifted restrictions on Russian oil.

Incredible situation and very funny. It is the kind of situation one is tempted to wonder if Putin and Trump planned it together. Incredible stuff."

The only result of sanctions on Russian and Iranian oil is that the West pay more for it ..they still sell it to a discount to China, but the discounted price is still more than the pre-sanction price...win win for the BRICKS pirates... Trump's actions in Venezuela and Iran put an end to it...and to the ANC's cash cow...buying the oil cheap cheap and basing the fuel prices on open market Brent price...love Trump p!$$!n9 on their parade ...no wonder there's so hardegat with the US....FAFO...ou Cyril and the gang is finding out fast.

1. k

...the sounds, of silence...

Jip... somehow the Iranian regime turned into poor victims in all this ...despite them disrupting the region and the world wide oil market for decades....not to mention the fact that they treat women like animals and murder their own citizens by the thousand if the dare protest their suppression...jolly good lot they are.