Russia expanded military and intelligence cooperation with Iran early in the war with the United States and Israel, providing satellite imagery and drone technology to help its main Middle East ally target American forces, The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday.
The newspaper said Russia supplied Iran with intelligence on the locations of U.S. military forces in the Middle East, as well as those of Washington’s regional allies. The assistance was described as similar to the support the United States and its European allies have provided Ukraine in recent years during its war with Russia.
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Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and Russian President Vladimir Putin
(Photo: Alexander KAZAKOV / POOL / AFP)
According to the Journal, the drone technology transferred by Moscow included upgraded components for Shahed drones, an Iranian-designed unmanned aerial system. The components were meant to improve navigation and target accuracy. Russia, which has gained extensive experience using drones in the war in Ukraine, also provided Iran with tactical guidance on how many drones to deploy in operations and the altitude from which they should strike targets, the report said.
On March 6, The Washington Post reported that since the outbreak of the war, Russia had provided Iran with information on the locations of U.S. military targets, including warships and aircraft. “It does seem like it’s a pretty comprehensive effort,” one source said of Russia’s intelligence assistance to Iran’s ruling clerical regime.
Dara Massicot, a specialist on the Russian military at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, told The Washington Post that Iran has only a small number of military satellites, making imagery from Russia especially valuable. That has become more significant, she said, after the Kremlin sharpened its satellite capabilities during four years of war in Ukraine.
Steve Witkoff, President Donald Trump’s special envoy to the Middle East and head of the U.S. delegation in talks aimed at ending the war in Ukraine, recently said Russia had assured the Trump administration that it was not passing Iran intelligence intended to aid attacks. Trump, however, said he believed Moscow was providing Tehran with limited assistance, comparing it to U.S. help for the Ukrainian military.
“I think he [Putin] may be helping them a bit,” Trump said in an interview with Fox News last week. “He probably thinks we're helping Ukraine. They do it, and we do it.”
Ties between the Kremlin and Iran’s clerical leadership have deepened since Russia invaded Ukraine and received Iranian drones during the war. Russia is also one of Iran’s major arms exporters.