Iran gives ballistic missiles to Russian military
The Wall Street Journal was the first to announce that Iran had delivered the missiles.
Tehran: Iran recently gave short-range ballistic missiles to Russia for use in the conflict against Ukraine, according to two people familiar with the intelligence, completing a delivery that US and Western officials had warned about for almost a year.
The Wall Street Journal was the first to announce that Iran had delivered the missiles.
It is unclear when the missiles were transported, but their transfer coincides with Russia’s increasing missile and drone strikes on Ukrainian cities.
Iran’s Permanent Mission to the United Nations denied the transfer had been carried out in a statement to CNN.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned allies at a meeting of the Ukraine Defence Contact Group in Germany on Friday that the country urgently needs stronger air defence systems.
Sean Savett, a spokeswoman for the National Security Council, told CNN that “any transfer of Iranian ballistic missiles to Russia would represent a dramatic escalation in Iran’s support” for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The deployment of ballistic missiles signals a substantial increase in Iran’s support for Russia. Iran has previously given Russia hundreds of drones, which Russian forces have employed in their conflict against Ukraine, and Russia has been establishing a drone manufacturing factory in the nation with Iran’s assistance, CNN reports.
According to officials, Russian negotiations to acquire the close-range ballistic missiles from Iran began in September of last year, when then-Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu visited 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,” a CNN source stated in January.
CNN earlier claimed that Russia had received missiles and missile components from North Korea. According to authorities, China is assisting Russia in expanding its defence industrial base to such an extent that Moscow is currently embarking on its most ambitious military production development since the Soviet period.
