Iranian Shahed-136 Drone Unveiled in UK Parliament
United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI)’s display of a downed Russian-launched Iranian Shahed-136 drone in the House of Commons is the first of its kind in Europe.
As we reach a critical juncture on Ukraine—with Russia escalating its attacks and its provocations against NATO member-states—the Rt Hon Tom Tugendhat MP and UANI have brought this drone from the Ukraine-Russia war zone to spotlight the Iranian regime’s support for Putin’s indiscriminate violence against Ukraine. Iran is Russia’s chief military supporter in the conflict, with its Shahed-136 drones serving as the most ubiquitous and devastating weapon.
The Iranian Shahed-136 Drone: The Nazi “Doodlebug” V-1 Buzz Bomb of Today
An Shahed-136 Drone. (Source: Farsnews)
The Iranian Shahed-136 drone is the world’s most lethal, widely deployed terror weapon today. An indiscriminate “kamikaze” loitering munition with a distinctive delta-shaped wing profile, it is today’s “buzzbomb” or “doodlebug”, equivalent to the notorious World War II–era Nazi V-1 flying bomb. With a range of approximately 1,600 miles (2,500 km), it is produced by the Iranian regime’s ideological army, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC)—specifically, the IRGC’s Shahed Aviation Industries Research Center and Iran’s Ministry of Defence–controlled Iran Aircraft Manufacturing Industries Corporation. Both manufacturing entities are sanctioned by the UK, US and EU for their role in developing and supplying drones to Russia which are used in Putin’s indiscriminate campaign of violence in Ukraine.
The Iranian Shahed Drone: Putin’s Primary Weapon
Iran’s regime has supplied Russia with Shahed drone variants that have become a central weapon in Putin’s war against Ukraine. Thousands of Shahed-131 and Shahed-136 drones have targeted Ukrainian civilians and critical infrastructure, causing mass casualties, repeated blackouts and destruction across multiple cities. Russia has launched over 38,000 Iranian Shahed drones and their variants at Ukraine in 2025 alone, compared to around 5,000 during the same period last year.
In July 2025, Russia launched a monthly record of 6,129 Shahed-type drone attacks against Ukraine, an increase from 5,337 strikes in June. On 9 July alone, Russian forces targeted Ukraine with a daily record of 728 drones, focusing especially on western cities like Lviv, Lutsk, Khmelnytskyi, and Ternopil. Moscow is reportedly aiming to execute even larger single-night barrages, with plans to launch up to 2,000 Shahed drones in one salvo as its drone production surges and tactics intensify.
Russia’s Homegrown Shahed-136: Geran-2
Shahed 136 wreckage found in Mykolaiv, Ukraine. (Source: National Police of Ukraine)
In early 2023, Russia and Iran signed a $1.75 billion deal enabling Putin’s regime to mass-produce the Shahed-136 in Alabuga, Tatarstan, Russia. By February 2023, debris from downed Shahed drones in Ukraine already revealed Russian and Iranian joint modifications of the Shahed drone system. These include multipurpose warheads designed to strike major infrastructure targets, such as Ukraine’s electricity grid. Russia typically deploys Shahed drones with a black, carbon-based coating to reduce radar visibility, alongside more recent jet-powered Shaheds capable of flying faster and at higher altitudes. Simultaneously, Russia is expanding its drone-production facilities to mass-produce even more of these modified, Iranian-designed weapons. CNN reported that Alabuga had produced more than 5,700 Shahed drones between January and September 2024, more than double the number it produced in the whole of 2023.
CASE STUDY:
Largest Drone Strike of the War Kills Five
On 7 September 2025, Russia launched the largest single-day drone assault of the war, deploying 805 Iranian-designed Shahed drones along with decoy drones across Ukraine. The attack killed at least five people and caused significant damage, including striking a key building in Kyiv’s heavily guarded government district for the first time since Russia’s full-scale invasion began in 2022. The mass drone strikes also damaged residential buildings and critical infrastructure in the cities of Zaporizhzhia, Kryvyi Rih and Odesa, as well as in the Sumy and Chernihiv regions.
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky, responding to the attack, said, "Such killings now, at a time when real diplomacy could have started a long time ago, are a deliberate crime and an attempt to prolong the war."
Earlier this year, Zelensky, speaking about Russia’s Shahed drone attacks, stated that “Russia would never have been able to do this without its ties to the regime in Iran” and condemned Tehran for supplying these deadly drones.
The Terror Weapon of Global Destruction
Five Iranian Shahed-136 Drones. (Source: Tasnim)
Iran’s regime has deployed Shahed drone variants around the world—directly and through its terror proxies. Iran’s missile and drone program, centred on the Shahed-136, has maimed and killed citizens from more than 80 countries—including Britain. The Iranian regime has launched Shahed drones against Israel, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Syria, Yemen, and Sudan, among others. In July 2021, the IRGC used the Shahed-136 to strike a merchant vessel, Mercer Street, killing British and Romanian nationals. The Shahed has repeatedly been used against U.S troops across the Middle East and was the weapon that struck America’s Tower 22 Base in Syria, resulting in the deaths of three American servicemembers and wounding 47 others.
Iran’s regime has supplied the Shahed to terror groups and rogue states, including:
Hezbollah
The Houthis
Iraqi Shia Militias
The Assad Regime in Syria
Russia
Belarus
Operation True Promise: Iran’s Unprecedent Strike on Israel
For the first time ever, Iran’s regime launched a direct attack from its own soil, subjecting Israel to a five-hour barrage of missiles and drones on 13-14 April 2024. The attack, codenamed "Operation True Promise"—referencing an ideological 8th century promise that the Jewish population will be annihilated—involved an estimated 170 drones, 30 cruise missiles, and 120 ballistic missiles. The scale and complexity of the assault were aimed at overwhelming Israel's air defences, with waves of Shahed-136 drones saturating systems like the Iron Dome. Multiple locations were targeted, including Israeli cities such as Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, military airbases including Nevatim and Ramon in the Negev desert, and sensitive sites like the Dimona nuclear research centre.
Iran’s 12-Day War with Israel
The direct conflict between Israel and Iran lasted from 13-24 June 2025. Iran launched approximately 550 ballistic missiles and around 1,000 drones at Israel during this period. This put UK nationals residing in Israel at grave risk. Iran’s drone strikes on Israel prominently featured two of Tehran’s most formidable models, the Shahed-129 and Shahed-136. The Shahed-136 was instrumental to Iran’s tactic of overwhelming Israeli defences and disrupting radar as to enable its missile barrages to penetrate the Iron Dome and strike populated civilian areas in Israel.
The Israel Defence Forces, along with allied air forces, intercepted the vast majority of these attacks, but some Shahed drones were able to penetrate Israel’s Iron Dome, causing casualties and damage.
Iran’s Lies and Propaganda
Screenshot of Javad Zarif’s interview with MSNBC on 24 September 2024.
Iran’s leadership, including President Masoud Pezeshkian, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, and former Vice President Javad Zarif, have publicly denied supplying these drones to Russia and portrayed themselves as reformists or diplomats.
Iran officially denies selling any military drones to Russia. In reality, Tehran has supplied Russia with thousands of Shahed drones via both sea and air routes and has provided extensive drone technology transfers since the early stages of the conflict.
UANI’s acquisition of the Shahed-136 drone from Ukraine – for the first time publicly displayed in the Houses of Parliament – definitively debunks the Iranian regime’s propaganda and denials regarding its supply of lethal drones to Russia.
Iran Threatens Drone Attacks Across Europe
Iranian Shahed-136 drones during a military exercise in Iran. (Source: Ima Media)
There is a growing risk that Iran could launch drone attacks across Europe. Mohammad Javad Larijani, former diplomat and adviser to the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, publicly warned that European cities could soon be targeted by drone strikes on Iranian state TV. On 12 July 2025 Larijani said that “Europeans and Westerners can no longer move about comfortably,” also threatening that “five drones could strike [a European city].”
Larijani’s warning comes as the Iranian regime intensifies its hostile operations in the US and Europe. Between September 2022 and October 2024, MI5 has responded to at least 20 foiled Iran regime-backed terror plots in the UK alone. This escalation coincides with intensified Iran-backed international repression primarily targeting Iranian dissidents, Jewish communities worldwide and Western former and current officials for kidnapping and assassination.
Unprecedented Shahed-136 Drone Incursion in Poland
On 9–10 September 2025, 21 Russian drones, including Iranian-made Shahed-136 variants, violated Polish airspace in the largest drone breach of a NATO member-state since the war in Ukraine began. Poland responded swiftly, shooting down the drones, though the incursion caused temporary airport closures and minor property damage.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk told Poland’s parliament it was "the closest we have been to open conflict since World War Two." Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski said, "We are dealing with an unprecedented case of an attack not only on the territory of Poland but also on the territory of NATO and the EU." This aggressive act underscores the Iranian regime’s enabling of Russia’s drone warfare through lethal drone proliferation and highlights the escalating military threat posed by the alliance between Khamenei and Putin.
UANI extends its deepest gratitude to all those who made this project possible, not least the Speaker of the House of Commons, the Rt Hon Sir Lindsay Hoyle MP. The acquisition of the Shahed-136 drone has been vital in exposing the true nature of the Iranian regime and its malign activities.
We especially thank the Republic of Poland, Prime Minister Donald Tusk and Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski, Ukraine and President Volodymyr Zelensky for their invaluable assistance in UANI’s acquisition of the Shahed-136 drone, and its exfiltration from Ukraine.
Together, we stand with Ukraine against Putin’s indiscriminate violence. “Slava Ukraini.”
And in solidarity with the Iranian people, against the regime’s brutal repression. “Women, Life, Freedom.”
Receive Iran News in Your Inbox.
Eye on Iran is a news summary from United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI), a section 501(c)(3) organization. Eye on Iran is available to subscribers on a daily basis or weekly basis.