The war in Iran continues. Although the American and Israeli militaries have established localized air superiority over the battlefield, Iran continues to fight back with attacks against energy infrastructure and commercial shipping across the region.
In the last couple of days alone, Iranian missiles and kamikaze drones have struck some of the most important oil and natural gas facilities in the Middle East, including Qatar’s Ras Laffan liquefied natural gas (LNG) export plan which is the world’s largest. Coupled with the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, energy prices are spiking, putting more pressure on the U.S. military to end the war quickly.
Iran has been conducting precision sites across a vast area – and it is doing so with a little help from its friend.
The friend who came from the cold
According to report by the Wall Street Journal citing a senior European intelligence official and other sources, Moscow has been providing Tehran with satellite imagery about the location of American forces in the region.
“The Iranians are requesting intelligence assistance from Russia, from China and from other adversaries of the United States, and whether or not those countries are [providing the requested assistance] is something we can talk about in the classified portion,” CIA Director John Ratcliffe said during the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence hearing on Worldwide Threats on Wednesday.
Although the CIA Director declined to comment publicly on whether Moscow and Beijing have been providing the requested assistance to Iran, reports indicate that indeed they have been.
When Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard was asked about the same reports, she also declined to publicly speak about the matter, reserving her open assessment for the closed hearing. However, she did add that “any support that Iran may be receiving is not inhibiting” the U.S. military’s operations.
“Nothing provided to Iran by any other country is affecting our operational success,” White House spokeswoman Olivia Wales also said, adding that Iran’s missile attacks have decreased by 90% and its drone attacks by 95% since the start of the war.
That, of course, could very well change as the war drags on and energy prices continue to rise.
Russia is also providing Iran with drone parts for its Shahed suicide drone fleet. Shahed drones are made by Iran, but Tehran has provided Moscow with tens of thousands of the drones for its war against Ukraine.
Russia has since started domestic production of the Shahed under the name of Geran-2.
Now, it is sharing with Iran the lessons it learned from using the drones against Ukraine. It is also providing Tehran with parts for the drones’ communications, navigation, and targeting capabilities to make its one-way attack unmanned aerial systems more effective, according to the Wall Street Journal.
In response, Ukraine has dispatched experts in the region to help the U.S. and its allies counter the Shaheds.
Feature Image: Russian President Vladimir Putin during a meeting with Iran’s former supreme leader Ayatollah Khamenei, July 2022. Khamenei was killed during Operation Epic Fury. (Wikimedia Commons)
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