On February 4, 2024, PRANA Network announced the successful hacking of the email servers belonging to Sahara Thunder, a front company for Iran regime’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), facilitating illegal arms sales from Iran to Russia.
Among the leaked documents regarding the localization of Iranian attack drone production in the special economic zone “Alabuga,” Russia, negotiations were detailed, revealing production volumes and drone costs.
Although the documents do not explicitly mention the product type, drones are referred to under a special code as “Dolphin 632 type motor boat.”
The papers revealed Russia’s intention to license-produce 6,000 Iranian drones by 2022 at its facilities over 2.5 years. The initial announced price by Iran was 23 million rubles per unit ($375,000), but negotiations settled at 12 million rubles per unit for 6,000 units ($193,000) or 18 million rubles for 2,000 units ($290,000).
The total production contract, covering technology transfer, equipment, 6,000 UAV sets, and software, amounted to 108.5 billion rubles ($1.75 billion).
Plans for 2023 projected the Shahed-136’s cost at 4.4 million rubles ($48.8 thousand) per plane with full localization and minimal Iranian component supply, subject to change based on production adjustments.
The selling price to customers is estimated at 14.9 million rubles ($165.5 thousand), likely due to licensed production fees, additional costs, and enterprise investments.
Additionally, some documents indicated that Russia conducts financial transactions with Iran in gold. In February 2023, “Alabuga Machines” organization transferred 2,067,795 grams of gold ingots to Sahara Thunder, presumably for services and goods.
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