The Ukraine Weapons Tracker Twitter community has published a video indicating that artillerymen of the Armed Forces of Ukraine received a batch of 122-mm high-explosive OF-462 shells for D-30 howitzers, which were produced in Iran of all places. The time and location in the video, as well as the possible quantities of delivered Iranian-made projectiles, are not disclosed.
Yet the very fact these shells "originate" in Iran looks more than exotic. Even more exotic than the D-30 shells made in Pakistan, spotted by the same community a few days before. Defense Express estimated there are two versions of how exactly the Ukrainian Armed Forces could have got the Iranian-made ammunition.
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The first thing that comes to mind is that Ukraine bought these shells directly from the manufacturer. But this assumption actually makes no sense, because Ukraine would definitely not put relations with the USA under risk for the possibility to separately purchase ammunition from Iran which is subject to sanctions.
A more likely version is that these Iranian D-30 projectiles were present among the contraband weapons intended for the Yemeni Houthis, intercepted by the US Navy in the waters of the Persian Gulf. Since such weapons became, in fact, "surplus military property", they rather quickly and secretly "migrated" to where they were needed for the struggle for civilization. That is, in the hands of artillerymen of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
Still, the Twitter community doubts it by claiming the projectiles were produced in 2022 and no interception of them was ever reported since then. If true, this gives way to one more assumption: these shells may have gone to russian units in a deal between the russian federation and Iran but were seized in combat, as russians tend to leave behind a lot of warehouses with ammunition on retreat. And this way they might have gone straight to the Ukrainian units who operate the same Soviet-heritage weapons.
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