Beware the emerging alliance between Russia and Iran

Opinion-Beware the emerging alliance between Russia and Iran

Washington Post -Aug 24th 2022

Beware the emerging Tehran-Moscow alliance: Russia has begun using Iranian-made drones in the Ukraine war and Iran has offered to share its financial networks to help Russia evade sanctions, according to Western intelligence officials.

For Russia, struggling to maintain momentum in Ukraine after six months of brutal conflict, the new Iranian assistance could be a game-changer, the intelligence officials warn. “This is not just a tactical alliance,” explained one official. With China and India refusing to sell weapons to Russia, Iran could become an essential pipeline for weapons and money.

“They know all the tricks in the book,” in terms of evading sanctions, the intelligence official said of Iran. Iran can tap its existing infrastructure network of shell companies and other financial institutions in this sanctions-busting campaign. Iranian financial aid for Russia would be even easier if sanctions against Tehran are lifted as part of a renewal of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, the intelligence officials warned.

To bolster Russia’s depleted weapons inventory, Iran has begun delivering “hundreds” of suicide drones, according to the intelligence officials. These drones would probably be part of the “Shahed” series, about the size of a U.S. Predator, which Iran has used successfully in Iraq and Syria.

U.S.-Iran tensions have been escalating sharply, even as the two countries appear to be nearing a deal to revive the nuclear agreement. Iranian-backed proxies staged a complex drone strike Aug. 15 on a U.S. base in al-Tanf, in southern Syria. No Americans were killed or wounded. But it was a bold attack, and the U.S. Central Command announced Tuesday that the United States had retaliated with “precision airstrikes” on a base near Deir-ez-Zor used by groups associated with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

“We are going to protect our people and strike those responsible, including the IRGC, if they keep this up,” a senior administration official said Wednesday.

The Biden administration has been warning for more than a month about the danger that Iran would supply drones to Russia. National security adviser Jake Sullivan told CNN on July 15 that Iran was “preparing to provide Russia with several hundred UAVs, including weapons-capable UAVs,” and that a Russian delegation had examined a “showcase” of drones at an Iranian airfield. Iran promptly assured Ukraine’s foreign minister that the U.S. reports were false.