Iran sends Russia hundreds of ballistic missiles, sources say

Iran has provided Russia with a large number of powerful surface-to-surface ballistic missiles, six sources told Reuters, deepening the military cooperation between the two US-sanctioned countries. (Reuters/File)
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Updated 21 February 2024
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Iran sends Russia hundreds of ballistic missiles, sources say

  • Iran’s provision of around 400 missiles includes many from the Fateh-110 family of short-range ballistic weapons, such as the Zolfaghar
  • This road-mobile missile is capable of striking targets at a distance of between 300 and 700 km, experts say

DUBAI: Iran has provided Russia with a large number of powerful surface-to-surface ballistic missiles, six sources told Reuters, deepening the military cooperation between the two US-sanctioned countries.
Iran’s provision of around 400 missiles includes many from the Fateh-110 family of short-range ballistic weapons, such as the Zolfaghar, three Iranian sources said. This road-mobile missile is capable of striking targets at a distance of between 300 and 700 km (186 and 435 miles), experts say.
Iran’s defense ministry and the Revolutionary Guards — an elite force that oversees Iran’s ballistic missile program — declined to comment. Russia’s defense ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The shipments began in early January after a deal was finalized in meetings late last year between Iranian and Russian military and security officials that took place in Tehran and Moscow, one of the Iranian sources said.
An Iranian military official — who, like the other sources, asked not to be identified because of the sensitivity of the information — said there had been at least four shipments of missiles and there would be more in the coming weeks. He declined to provide further details.
Another senior Iranian official said some of the missiles were sent to Russia by ship via the Caspian Sea, while others were transported by plane.
“There will be more shipments,” the second Iranian official said. “There is no reason to hide it. We are allowed to export weapons to any country that we wish to.”
UN Security Council restrictions on Iran’s export of some missiles, drones and other technologies expired in October. However, the United States and European Union retained sanctions on Iran’s ballistic missile program amid concerns over exports of weapons to its proxies in the Middle East and to Russia.
A fourth source, familiar with the matter, confirmed that Russia had received a large number of missiles from Iran recently, without providing further details.
White House national security spokesperson John Kirby said in early January the United States was concerned that Russia was close to acquiring short-range ballistic weapons from Iran, in addition to missiles already sourced from North Korea.
A US official told Reuters that Washington had seen evidence of talks actively advancing but no indication yet of deliveries having taken place.
The Pentagon did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the missile deliveries.
Ukraine’s top prosecutor said on Friday the ballistic missiles supplied by North Korea to Russia had proven unreliable on the battlefield, with only two of 24 hitting their targets. Moscow and Pyongyang have both denied that North Korea has provided Russia with munitions used in Ukraine.
By contrast, Jeffrey Lewis, an expert with the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey, said the Fateh-110 family of missiles and the Zolfaghar were precision weapons.
“They are used to point at things that are high value and need precise damage,” said Lewis, adding that 400 munitions could inflict considerable harm. He noted, however, that Russian bombardments were already “pretty brutal.”

US AID DELAY WEAKENS UKRAINE’S DEFENCES
A Ukrainian military source told Reuters that Kyiv had not registered any use of Iranian ballistic missiles by Russian forces. The Ukrainian defense ministry did not immediately reply to Reuters’ request for comment.
Former Ukrainian defense minister Andriy Zagorodnyuk said that Russia wanted to supplement its missile arsenal at a time when delays in approving a major package of US military aid in Congress has left Ukraine short of ammunition and other material.
“The lack of US support means shortages of ground-based air defense in Ukraine. So they want to accumulate a mass of rockets and break through Ukrainian air defense,” said Zagorodnyuk, who chairs the Kyiv-based Center for Defense Strategies, a security think tank, and advises the government.
Kyiv has repeatedly asked Tehran to stop supplying Shahed drones to Russia, which have become a staple of Moscow’s long-range assaults on Ukrainian cities and infrastructure, alongside an array of missiles.
Ukraine’s air force said in December that Russia had launched 3,700 Shahed drones during the war, which can fly hundreds of kilometers and explode on impact. Ukrainians call them “mopeds” because of the distinctive sound of their engines; air defenses down dozens of them each week.
Iran initially denied supplying drones to Russia but months later said it had provided a small number before Moscow launched the war on Ukraine in 2022.
“Those who accuse Iran of providing weapons to one of the sides in the Ukraine war are doing so for political purposes,” Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Nasser Kanaani said on Monday, when asked about Tehran’s delivery of drones to Russia. “We have not given any drones to take part in that war.”
Rob Lee, a senior fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute, a Philadelphia-based think tank, said a supply of Fateh-100 and Zolfaghar missiles from Iran would hand Russia an even greater advantage on the battlefield.
“They could be used to strike military targets at operational depths, and ballistic missiles are more difficult for Ukrainian air defenses to intercept,” Lee said.

DEEPENING TIES WITH MOSCOW
Iran’s hard-line clerical rulers have steadily sought to deepen ties with Russia and China, betting that would help Tehran to resist US sanctions and to end its political isolation.
Defense cooperation between Iran and Russia has intensified since Moscow sent tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine in February 2022.
Russia’s Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu met the head of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Aerospace Force, Amirali Hajjizadeh, in Tehran in September, when Iran’s drones, missiles and air defense systems were displayed for him, Iranian state media reported.
And last month, Russia’s foreign ministry said it expected President Vladimir Putin and his Iranian counterpart Ebrahim Raisi to sign a broad new cooperation treaty soon, following talks in Moscow in December.
“This military partnership with Russia has shown the world Iran’s defense capabilities,” said the military official. “It does not mean we are taking sides with Russia in the Ukraine conflict.”
The stakes are high for Iran’s clerical rulers amid the war between Israel and Palestinian Islamist group Hamas that erupted after Oct. 7. They also face growing dissent at home over economic woes and social restrictions.
While Tehran tries to avoid a direct confrontation with Israel that could draw in the United States, its Axis of Resistance allies — including Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Houthis in Yemen — have attacked Israeli and US targets.
A Western diplomat briefed on the matter confirmed the delivery of Iranian ballistic missiles to Russia in the recent weeks, without providing more details.
He said Western nations were concerned that Russia’s reciprocal transfer of weapons to Iran could strengthen its position in any possible conflict with the United States and Israel.
Iran said in November it had finalized arrangements for Russia to provide it with Su-35 fighter jets, Mi-28 attack helicopters and Yak-130 pilot training aircraft.
Analyst Gregory Brew at Eurasia Group, a political risk consultancy, said Russia is an ally of convenience for Iran.
“The relationship is transactional: in exchange for drones, Iran expects more security cooperation and advanced weaponry, particularly modern aircraft,” he said.


South Korea’s new President Lee vows to pursue talks with North and bolster ties with US and Japan

Updated 19 sec ago
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South Korea’s new President Lee vows to pursue talks with North and bolster ties with US and Japan

  • Lee Jae-myung’s government to deal with North Korean nuclear threats and its potential military aggressions with ‘strong deterrence’
  • But he would ‘open a communication channel with North Korea and establish peace on the Korean Peninsula through talks and cooperation’
SEOUL: South Korea’s new President Lee Jae-myung vowed Wednesday to restart dormant talks with North Korea and bolster a trilateral partnership with the US and Japan, as he laid out key policy goals for his single, five-year term.
Lee, who rose from childhood poverty to become South Korea’s leading liberal politician vowing to fight inequality and corruption, formally began his term earlier Wednesday, hours after winning a snap election that was triggered in April by the removal of then-President Yoon Suk Yeol over his ill-fated imposition of martial law late last year.
In his inaugural address at the National Assembly, Lee said that his government will deal with North Korean nuclear threats and its potential military aggressions with “strong deterrence” based on the solid South Korea-US military alliance. But he said he would “open a communication channel with North Korea and establish peace on the Korean Peninsula through talks and cooperation.”
He said he’ll pursue pragmatic diplomacy with neighboring countries and boost trilateral Seoul-Washington-Tokyo cooperation based on the robust South Korea-US alliance.
“Through pragmatic diplomacy based on national interests, we will turn the crisis posed by the major shift in global economic and security landscapes into an opportunity to maximize our national interests,” Lee said.
Security and economic challenges lie ahead
It was unclear whether Lee’s election would cause any major, immediate shift in South Korea’s foreign policy. Lee, previously accused by critics of tilting toward China and North Korea and away from the US and Japan, has recently repeatedly stressed South Korea’s alliance with the US as the foundation of its foreign policy and avoided any contentious remarks that would raise questions on his views on the US and Japan.
“We’ll have to now see if the pressures of office will cause Lee Jae-myung to govern from the center — at least when it comes to matters of national security and the alliance with the United States,” said Ankit Panda, an expert with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
The toughest external challenges awaiting Lee are US President Donald Trump’s tariff policy and North Korea’s expanding military partnerships with Russia. But experts earlier said whoever becomes president can’t do much to secure major progress in South Korea’s favor on those issues.
During his inauguration speech, Lee didn’t directly mention trade issues with the US
US and Japan react
The US and Japan said they congratulated Lee’s election and expressed their commitments to developing three-way cooperation.
Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba said he wants to hold summit talks with Lee “as early as possible,” saying he hopes to further promote bilateral ties, both public and commercial. The US State Department said that Seoul and Washington share “an ironclad commitment” to the alliance grounded in their mutual defense treaty, shared values and deep economic ties.
It’s unclear how North Korea would react to Lee’s speech, as it has shunned any talks with South Korea since 2019. North Korea in recent years has supplied weapons and troops to support Russia’s war against Ukraine, and South Korea, the US and their partners suspect Russia might in return transfer high-tech technologies to North Korea to help it perfect its nuclear weapons program.
Russia’s Tass news agency said Wednesday that one of President Vladimir Putin’s top security officials, Security Council Secretary Sergei Shoigu, has arrived in Pyongyang for a meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, in the latest sign of the countries’ alignment over Putin’s war in Ukraine.
Lee said revitalizing a slowing domestic economy would be his top priority and that his government would immediately launch an emergency task force to wage a “head-on battle” against the threats of recession. He also promised more aggressive government spending to help spur economic activity.
South Korea’s central bank last week cut its key interest rate and sharply lowered its growth outlook for 2025 to 0.8 percent, as it moved to counter Trump’s tariff hikes and weak domestic demand worsened by recent political turmoil.
South Korea still faces political divide
Lee also called for unity to address the country’s stark political divide deepened after Yoon’s martial law debacle, saying that he will “answer the people’s solemn call to let hope bloom over deep and painful wounds.” Lee still promised a thorough investigation into the circumstances surrounding Yoon’s martial law imposition, describing it as a “rebellion that seized people’s sovereignty with arms.”
Yoon and some of his top military and police officers already stand trial on high-stakes rebellion charges in connection with martial law. Lee’s push to bring those involved in Yoon’s martial law stunt accountable has subsequently caused speculations among his opponents that he would launch political revenge against Yoon associates and senior prosecutors whom he previously accused of fabricating evidence to initiate criminal charges against him.
Lee faces five trials on corruption and other allegations, but experts say those trials will likely stop during his term because the South Korean constitution gives a sitting president immunity from most criminal prosecutions.
Lee also reiterated his campaign vows to reduce inequality and pledged to address the imbalance between the greater Seoul capital area and less developed regions. He said that “the polarization fueled by inequality is now hindering further growth.”
Lee’s term began immediately without the usual two-month transition period after the National Election Commission formally confirmed his election victory.

NATO’S Baltic drills are part of preparations for a potential clash with Russia, TASS reports

Updated 12 min 10 sec ago
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NATO’S Baltic drills are part of preparations for a potential clash with Russia, TASS reports

  • BALTOPS – NATO’s annual exercise in the Baltic Sea and the regions surrounding it – is being held this month

NATO’S Baltic drills are part of the alliance’s preparations for a potential military clash with Russia, TASS news agency cited Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko as saying in remarks published on Wednesday.

“We assess NATO’s military activity as part of preparations for military clashes with Russia,” TASS cited Grushko as saying.

“If we look at the focus of these exercises, the concept, the structure of the deployment of forces, the forces themselves, their quality, the tasks that are formulated for these exercises, then this is a fight against a comparable adversary,” Grushko said according to TASS.

BALTOPS – NATO’s annual exercise in the Baltic Sea and the regions surrounding it – is being held this month.


Musk calls Trump’s big beautiful bill ‘a disgusting abomination’

Updated 04 June 2025
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Musk calls Trump’s big beautiful bill ‘a disgusting abomination’

  • Musk left his formal role in the administration last week as his time as a special government employee with the Department of Government Efficiency came to an end

WASHINGTON: Elon Musk on Tuesday amplified his criticism of the sweeping tax and spending bill that President Donald Trump has been pushing fellow Republicans in Congress to embrace, calling it a “disgusting abomination” that will increase the deficit.
“I’m sorry, but I just can’t stand it anymore,” the billionaire Musk wrote in an X post. “This massive, outrageous, pork-filled Congressional spending bill is a disgusting abomination.
“Shame on those who voted for it: you know you did wrong. You know it.”
The broadside comes as Trump pressures Republicans in the Senate to approve the legislation he dubbed the “big, beautiful bill,” which has been passed in the House of Representatives.
Trump appointed Musk, the world’s richest person, to lead a government cost-cutting and efficiency drive, during which he upended several federal agencies but ultimately failed to deliver the massive savings he had sought.
Musk left his formal role in the administration last week as his time as a special government employee with the Department of Government Efficiency came to an end.


Trump administration moves to fast-track firings of federal workers for misconduct

Updated 04 June 2025
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Trump administration moves to fast-track firings of federal workers for misconduct

  • The proposal would allow agencies to refer misconduct cases to OPM instead of going through the traditional disciplinary process

President Donald Trump’s administration moved on Tuesday to make it easier to fire federal employees for misconduct, the latest step in a broader effort to overhaul the civil service and shrink the federal bureaucracy.
The US Office of Personnel Management published a proposed rule that would allow the office, which acts as the federal government’s human resources department, to direct other agencies to fire employees for conduct such as tax evasion, leaking sensitive information and refusing to testify in other workers’ disciplinary cases.
The rule would extend OPM’s existing power to designate job applicants as unsuitable for federal employment, to current federal employees, a change it said was necessary to hold government workers accountable to the public.
Federal workers have for decades been covered by an array of job protections, including the ability to contest firings by engaging in a lengthy administrative process.
The proposal would allow agencies to refer misconduct cases to OPM instead of going through the traditional disciplinary process. If OPM determines that removal of an employee is required, an agency would have five days to terminate them.
“Illogically, the government has far greater ability to bar someone from federal employment who has committed a serious crime or misconduct in the past than it does to remove someone who engages in the exact same behavior as a federal employee,” OPM said in the proposal.
The publication of the proposal kicked off a 30-day public comment period.
Since Trump’s second term began in January, the administration has moved aggressively to shrink the federal bureaucracy, including directing mass firings and layoffs and implementing changes to the civil service. Many of those policies have been met with court challenges and some have been temporarily blocked by judges.
OPM, which is closely linked to the White House, has played a key role in those efforts by attempting to give Trump more direct control of the federal workforce.
Many unions, Democrats and advocacy groups have said Trump’s various policies violate complex federal civil service and labor laws meant to regulate government employment and ensure that federal workers are insulated from political influence.
OPM on Tuesday said the policies agencies have followed for decades rely on overly cumbersome and restrictive procedures that protect misconduct.
“This arbitrary state of affairs seriously impairs the efficiency, effectiveness, and public perception of the Federal service,” the agency said.


Spain cancels contract for missiles built by Israeli subsidiary

Updated 03 June 2025
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Spain cancels contract for missiles built by Israeli subsidiary

MADRID: Spain has canceled a deal for anti-tank missile systems that were to be manufactured in Madrid by a subsidiary of an Israeli company, in a bid to move away from Israeli military technology, the Defense Ministry said on Tuesday.

The decision will affect the license for 168 SPIKE LR2 anti-tank missile systems with an estimated value of 285 million euros ($325 million). The systems would have been developed in Spain by Pap Tecnos, a Madrid-based subsidiary of Israel’s Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, according to local press.

“The goal is clear ... a total disconnection from Israeli technology,” government spokesperson Pilar Alegria said, adding the government is studying “the effects of the cancelation.”

Israel’s Defense Ministry referred questions on the decision to Rafael, which said it wasn’t aware of the cancelation. Pap Tecnos, located on the outskirts of Madrid, did not comment.

Spain approved the deal on Oct. 3, 2023, four days before an insurgent assault led by Hamas on southern Israel that sparked a devastating war in Gaza. 

Authorities argued at the time that the systems used by the Spanish forces were obsolete and should be replaced with up-to-date versions like those used by allied armies.

Spain’s leftist government says it stopped exporting arms to Israel as of Oct. 2, 2023, but there were reports that some shipments slipped through.

The US late last year opened an investigation into whether NATO ally Spain denied port entry to at least three cargo vessels reportedly transporting US weapons to Israel.

Spain formally recognized a Palestinian state in May 2024 in a coordinated effort with Norway and Ireland. 

A month later, Spain became the first European country to ask the top UN court, the International Court of Justice, permission to join a case mounted by South Africa that accuses Israel of genocide in Gaza.