Iran intel official says China in line to buy Tehran's drones
Despite growing Western alarm over the Islamic Republic's drone shipments to Russia, the Iranian official said 90 countries were "queuing up" for purchases of the same products.
A senior Iran Intelligence Ministry official said China was among 90 countries "queuing up" to buy Iran-made drones, according to a report by the moderate Entekhab news agency on Wednesday.
The top adviser, whose name remained undisclosed apparently for security reasons, made the comments during a book-unveiling ceremony at the international Imam Khomeini University in the city of Qazvin.
"Our power has grown to levels where China is waiting in line to buy 15,000 of our drones," declared the official, also introduced by the report as the director of the Intelligence Ministry's Think Tank for Political Research.
The senior adviser hailed Iran's "look to the east" policy, a notion promoted by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, which calls for an expansion of ties with China and Russia as a long-term strategy to fight off "Western hegemony" and mitigate sanctions imposed on the Islamic Republic.
