In a recent development, Russia is reportedly sharing intelligence with Iran, pinpointing the locations of U.S. military assets, such as warships and aircraft, situated in the Middle East. This information comes from sources familiar with the situation.
According to three officials with knowledge of the intelligence, this collaborative effort has been ongoing since the conflict erupted this past Saturday. A source revealed to The Washington Post that Russia’s support is quite extensive, offering substantial assistance to its ally, Tehran, in targeting U.S. forces in the region.
While the precise extent of Moscow’s involvement remains somewhat ambiguous, officials indicated that Iran’s capability to independently track U.S. positions has diminished significantly within the first week of hostilities.
This revelation comes on the heels of a recent attack in Kuwait, where six U.S. troops lost their lives and several others sustained injuries due to an Iranian drone strike. The ongoing conflict has seen Iran launching numerous drones and hundreds of missiles against American military installations.
In response, a joint U.S.-Israeli campaign has been actively targeting Iranian sites, with over 2,000 strikes aimed at ballistic missile facilities, naval assets, and leadership positions within Iran.
Iran has fired thousands of attack drones and hundreds of missiles at US military positions, even as the joint US-Israeli campaign has struck more than 2,000 targets inside Iran, including ballistic missile sites, naval assets and leadership positions.
White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly did not address the claims of Russian assistance directly, but said: ‘The Iranian regime is being absolutely crushed.
‘Their ballistic missile retaliation is decreasing every day, their navy is being wiped out, their production capacity is being demolished, and proxies are hardly putting up a fight.’
Smoke rises from an explosion in the direction of Ali Al Salem Air Base, a major military base in Kuwait that hosts U.S. and allied forces, amid the U.S.-Israeli conflict with Iran
Aircraft attached to Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 9 sit on the flight deck of the U.S. Navy Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln in support of the Operation Epic Fury attack on Iran, February 28
The CIA and Pentagon declined to comment.
Moscow has publicly called for an end to the war, which it has branded an ‘unprovoked act of armed aggression.’
Two of the officials cited in the report said there was no sign China was helping Iran’s defence despite Beijing’s close ties with Tehran.
Analysts said the alleged intelligence sharing would fit the pattern of Iranian strikes, including attacks on command and control sites, radar systems and temporary military structures.
The CIA station at the US Embassy in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia’s capital, was also struck in recent days.
The alleged Russian assistance would add a new dimension to the proxy conflict that has surrounded Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Throughout the war in Ukraine, Iran, China and North Korea have all been accused of helping Russia either directly or through material support, while the United States has armed Ukraine and shared intelligence to improve Kyiv’s targeting.
Iran has been one of Moscow’s key backers during the Ukraine war, sharing the technology behind the cheap one-way attack drones used against Ukrainian cities.
Experts said the accuracy of some recent Iranian strikes suggested outside help may have played a role.
Dara Massicot, an expert on the Russian military at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, said Iran had been making ‘very precise hits’ on radar and command infrastructure and appeared to be striking in a highly targeted way.
She said Russian imagery would be especially valuable because Iran has only a limited number of military-grade satellites and no satellite constellation of its own.
Nicole Grajewski, who studies Iran’s cooperation with Russia at the Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center, said there had been a high level of ‘sophistication’ in Iran’s retaliatory strikes, both in the choice of targets and in its ability in some cases to overwhelm US and allied air defences.
The report comes amid growing concern in Washington over how quickly the Pentagon is burning through precision weapons and air defence interceptors as the conflict intensifies.
