Iran recently transferred short-range ballistic missiles to Russia to use in the war against Ukraine, according to two sources familiar with the intelligence, completing a delivery that US and Western officials had warned was in the works for almost a year.
It is not clear when exactly the missiles were delivered, but their transfer comes as Russia has intensified its missile and drone attacks on Ukrainian cities and as Ukraine braces for large-scale Russian attacks on its energy infrastructure this winter. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told allies at a meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group in Germany on Friday that Ukraine urgently needed more air defense systems.
The Wall Street Journal first reported that Iran had delivered the missiles.
The provision of ballistic missiles marks a significant escalation of Iran’s support for Russia. Iran has already provided Russia with hundreds of drones that Russian forces have used in their war against Ukraine, and Russia has been building a drone-manufacturing facility in country with Iran’s help, CNN has reported.
Russian negotiations to acquire the close-range ballistic missiles from Iran began as early as last September, officials previously told CNN, when then-Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu traveled to Iran to view the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Ababil close-range ballistic missile systems.
“This event marked the first public display of ballistic missiles to a senior Russian official visiting Iran since the start of the Russia-Ukraine war,” an official told CNN in January.
In March the G7 issued a strong joint statement warning that the international community’s response will include “new and significant measures against Iran” if the country moves ahead with sending ballistic missiles to Russia to use in its war effort against Ukraine.
Last December, the IRGC deployed ballistic missiles and missile support systems to a training area inside Iran to display to a visiting Russian delegations—all signs that Russia intended to purchase the systems from Iran.
Russia has also been getting missiles and missile components from North Korea, CNN has previously reported. And China is helping Russia ramp up its defense industrial base at such a large scale that Moscow is now undertaking its most ambitious expansion in military manufacturing since the Soviet era, officials have said. China’s support to Russia has included significant quantities of machine tools, drone and turbojet engines and technology for cruise missiles.
CNN has asked the Russian embassy and Iranian UN mission for comment.
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