Russia continues to aid Iran in war with US, Ukraine says

Russia is still providing satellite imagery to aid Iran in its war against the United States, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy alleged on July 25. That same day, Kyiv said it had targeted cargo vessels involved in transporting military goods between the two authoritarian powers. These allegations build on earlier evidence that Russia is working to help Iran kill Americans and prolong a war that favors Moscow’s strategic interests.

Providing targeting intelligence

“Since the beginning of July, we have recorded active Russian satellite surveillance of the Gulf states and U.S. military facilities located there,” Zelenskyy stated. “These images subsequently appear in Iran.”

He added that “there is a clear correlation between Russia’s satellite imagery of these sites and Iranian strikes – both before the attacks, in preparation for them, and afterward, to assess the damage inflicted. On July 19 and 20 alone, four air bases fell within the area of interest of Russian satellites – two in Bahrain, one in Jordan, and one in Kuwait.” Iran has attacked bases in those countries in recent weeks.

Shortly after the United States and Israel first launched attacks against Iran on February 28, officials revealed that Russia was providing intelligence to help the Iranians track US troops, warships, and aircraft. This information has likely helped Iran strike American military assets, such as expensive air defense radars and aircraft. According to The Wall Street Journal, Russia initially supplied only a limited amount of intelligence derived from satellite imagery but later began providing this imagery directly to Tehran.

On June 22, Reuters reported that US intelligence was investigating whether Russia provided targeting information that aided Iranian attacks on CIA facilities in the Gulf, including a March 3 strike on the CIA station in Riyadh. In addition, Ukrainian intelligence has alleged that Russia provided Tehran with information on Israeli critical infrastructure and cooperated with Iran in the cyber domain.

Supplies of weapon components

On July 25, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) announced that it had conducted long-range drone strikes against a pair of cargo ships in the Caspian Sea. Zelenskyy said the vessels were “used in military cargo shipments involving Iran,” although the details remain sketchy.

Initially, the SBU identified the ships as the Port Olya-2 and the Begey, both of which allegedly had transported Iranian weapons to Russia earlier in the war. According to ship-tracking service MarineTraffic, the vessels were headed from the Iranian port of Amirabad to Russia’s Astrakhan. The SBU, however, later deleted the names of the ships from its announcement on social media.

According to the Russian Foreign Ministry, Ukraine actually struck the Ana, an “Iran-flagged dry-cargo ship” that was “sailing out of Astrakhan.” Tehran said the strike had killed one sailor and injured another. Unverified videos shared on social media purported to show smoke billowing from the ship’s bridge as well as several unsuccessful drone strikes targeting another vessel, reported to be the Navis-1, a Russian cargo ship.

While Moscow and Tehran claimed that the Ana was carrying civilian cargo, Ukrainian Ambassador to Israel Yevhen Korinchuk said it “contained materials for drones and missiles.” He asserted that the vessel was “on the way to Russia,” whereas MarineTraffic indicated the Ana was headed from Astrakhan to Iran’s Bandar Anzali port as of July 24.

“We are fighting the same enemy, a different side of the same axis of evil,” the ambassador declared.

For years, the Caspian Sea has been a key route for trade between Iran and Russia. The Islamic Republic shipped Shahed-136 one-way attack drones and other arms to Russia via the Caspian beginning in 2022. More recently, military goods have been flowing in the other direction.

Western and Ukrainian officials have accused Russia of aiding the Islamic Republic both before and during the war that began in February. The Russians reportedly have provided Iran with guidance related to electronic warfare and drone employment as well as components to improve Iranian one-way attack drones.

In late March, officials said Moscow was supplying Tehran with entire drones, apparently includingupgraded versions of Iran’s Shahed-136, which Russia has been producing in growing numbers since 2023 under an Iranian license. According to Reuters, Western intelligence analysts believe the Iranians hit the CIA station in Riyadh with “a pair of Russian-enhanced versions of Iran’s Shahed drones.”

The Israeli military struck Iran’s Bandar Anzali port in March, reportedly seeking to disrupt Russian assistance to the Islamic Republic. Nevertheless, a month after the abortive April 8 ceasefire between Washington and Tehran, US officials told The New York Times that Russia was shipping drone components to Iran via the Caspian Sea, helping Tehran reconstitute strike capabilities degraded during the war. The next month, Bloomberg reported that unnamed “Western allies” believe Russia supplied unspecified, recently produced missiles to Iran after the ceasefire.

The benefits of intervention for Moscow

The Russians have likely relished the opportunity to punish Washington for its support for Ukraine. But Moscow also has hard interests at stake.

The renewed hostilities between the United States and Iran have reinvigorated oil prices that slumped after the April 8 ceasefire, helping to fill the Kremlin’s depleted coffers. The war is also draining US supplies of costly air defense munitions, including PAC-3 missiles desperately needed by Ukraine — granting Russia a freer hand to bombard Ukraine.

John Hardie is the deputy director of FDD’s Russia Program and a contributor to FDD’s Long War Journal.