Russia continues to send Iran ammunition, including explosives such as TNT, as well as drone components through a protected and relatively isolated shipping route across the Caspian Sea, NBC News reported overnight Monday into Tuesday. The report is based on a document from an unidentified European government that NBC said was verified by a Western official who spoke to the network.
According to the report, the continued shipments point to a deepening strategic alliance between Tehran and Moscow as both countries remain embroiled in separate conflicts and face a common adversary, the United States.
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Russian President Vladimir Putin and an Iranian warship struck by the Israeli Air Force in the Caspian Sea in March
(Photo: Gavriil Grigorov/Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP, IDF)
Russian shipments to Iran through the Caspian Sea have been reported before. In May, The New York Times revealed that Moscow was using the route to deliver components that could help Tehran rebuild its drone stockpile, about 60% of which U.S. officials said had been destroyed in the most recent war with the United States and Israel.
Russia was also reportedly using the route to move other goods that would normally arrive through the Strait of Hormuz but can no longer do so because of the U.S. blockade on Iranian ports.
But NBC’s latest report suggests the scope of the shipments is broader, including not only drone parts but also additional ammunition and explosives such as TNT. That material could be particularly important as Iran prepares for another possible direct confrontation with the United States or Israel.
Only a day earlier, a senior Iranian official warned that Washington had “weeks” to accept Tehran’s terms and “renew” the June memorandum of understanding. He said Iran would not allow the U.S. blockade to continue indefinitely and intended to shift to a “fully offensive” policy.
Another vessel was reportedly attacked Tuesday morning while crossing the Strait of Hormuz, in an incident for which Iran is the immediate suspect as it seeks to disrupt tanker traffic through the strategic waterway.
The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations agency, or UKMTO, said “unidentified ammunition” struck an unnamed vessel as it attempted to cross the strait and leave the Persian Gulf. The vessel’s engine room was damaged, and at least one person was reported injured. “The rest of the crew is receiving assistance from the Omani Coast Guard,” UKMTO said.
Ships in the Strait of Hormuz as Iranian attacks continue
(Photo: Amirhosein Khorgooi/ISNA/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS)
Against the backdrop of the attack, Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said Tuesday morning that the Strait of Hormuz would remain closed until the United States complied with the terms of the memorandum of understanding, as Tehran interprets them. Ghalibaf demanded that Washington lift the maritime blockade on Iran, remove sanctions on its economy and release frozen Iranian assets around the world.
Hours later, without responding to Iran’s conditions, U.S. President Donald Trump posted a map of the Strait of Hormuz on Truth Social labeling it “new American territory.” The post followed his earlier threat to declare the strait annexed “after we finish defeating Iran.”
Iranian officials quickly mocked the claim. Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi said Trump’s “illusion” over Hormuz would soon be corrected, while senior IRGC official Mostafa Izadi said the strait remained under Iranian control and accused Washington of being “helpless.”
NBC said it remains unclear how far Iran has progressed in rebuilding its weapons arsenal. Tehran, however, has repeatedly declared that its rearmament efforts are continuing, including what it says is the production of new missiles.
Iran’s Defense Ministry said Tuesday morning: “We will continue on the path laid out by Ali Khamenei to build the country’s defensive power with strength and make it more advanced and powerful in accordance with new needs and threats.”
The Caspian Sea route has for years served as a strategic transportation artery between Russia and Iran. The Caspian, the world’s largest inland body of water, has no U.S. presence. Only the five states bordering it, Russia, Iran, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan, are able to police its waters.
Ships traveling between Russia and Iran on the Caspian often switch off their tracking transponders, making them more difficult to monitor. “If you think about the ideal place to evade sanctions and transport military equipment, it is the Caspian Sea,” Prof. Nicole Grajewski, an expert on Iran and Russia, was quoted as saying by The New York Times in May.
Some experts have dubbed the route the “Caspian Express.” It initially operated mainly in the opposite direction, with Iran supplying Russia with drones and other ammunition after Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Russia, which later began producing Iranian-designed Shahed drones domestically, is now sending equipment and weapons back to its besieged ally.
Traffic in the other direction appears to be continuing as well. Last month, Ukraine attacked vessels in the Caspian Sea, including an Iranian ship where one sailor was killed. The strike triggered serious tensions between Kyiv and Tehran, which threatened retaliation, but diplomatic efforts ultimately prevented an Iranian response.
Israel has also tried to disrupt the route. In March, Israel struck the Iranian Navy headquarters at Bandar Anzali on the Caspian coast, an attack the IDF described at the time as “one of the most significant” of the war.
Even so, traffic along the route continues without interruption, according to the reports. Experts warn that the shipments help Iran withstand the U.S. blockade and could prolong the confrontation.
In an opinion column published last week in Britain’s The Telegraph, Glenn Howard, president of the U.S.-based Saratoga Foundation, urged Washington to use its influence over Azerbaijan in an effort to disrupt the Caspian route. “As the regional dimension of the conflict between Iran and the United States expands, the Trump administration must decide whether to challenge the ‘Caspian Express’ before it becomes entrenched as the permanent logistical backbone of the Russia-Iran alliance,” Howard wrote.
Iranian missile launch in June. Could Azerbaijan help disrupt the backdoor weapons route?
(Photo: WANA (West Asia News Agency)/ via REUTERS)
He pointed to the U.S.-brokered peace agreement between Armenia and Azerbaijan as providing the “diplomatic foundations” for such an effort.
“The White House must now build on that success by developing a regional strategy that leverages Azerbaijan’s emergence as a rising regional power in the South Caucasus, while allowing Ukraine to continue applying military pressure on the route without risking direct U.S. involvement,” he wrote.