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Russia Is Secretly Feeding Iran Target Data on US Warships and Aircraft, Officials Say
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Russia is reportedly providing Iran with intelligence that could be used to target US military forces in the Middle East, marking the first indication that another major American adversary may be indirectly involved in the rapidly expanding conflict, according to US officials familiar with the intelligence, according to The Washington Post on March 6.
The previously undisclosed assistance suggests that one of Washington’s main nuclear-armed rivals may now be playing a role in the war by sharing sensitive information about American military assets.
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Three officials who spoke on condition of anonymity told The Washington Post that since the war began Saturday, Russia has passed Iran intelligence on the location of US military targets, including warships and aircraft operating in the region.
“Russia is providing Iran with targeting information to attack American forces in the Middle East,” the officials said.
According to the sources, the intelligence shared with Tehran has included detailed information on the positions of US naval vessels and aircraft.
The US has never before faced such a number of simultaneous attacks on its foreign bases, - The Wall Street Journal.
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The video shows a large fire at a US naval base in Bahrain following an Iranian missile strike. pic.twitter.com/bqG59cOAJM
“It does seem like it’s a pretty comprehensive effort,” one of the people familiar with the intelligence said.
The Russian Embassy in Washington did not respond to a request for comment. Moscow has publicly called for an end to the war, describing it as an “unprovoked act of armed aggression.”
The Washington Post notes that the full scope of the targeting assistance remains unclear. However, US officials say Iran’s ability to locate American military positions has not degraded significantly despite several days of intense fighting.
The war has already produced deadly consequences. On Sunday, an Iranian drone strike in Kuwait killed six US service members and wounded several others.
Iran has launched thousands of one-way attack drones and hundreds of missiles at US military facilities, diplomatic sites, and civilian locations across the region. At the same time, a joint US–Israeli campaign has struck more than 2,000 Iranian targets, including ballistic missile sites, naval assets, and elements of the country’s leadership structure, WP worte.
“The Iranian regime is being absolutely crushed,” White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly said, though she declined to address the reported Russian assistance. “Their ballistic missile retaliation is decreasing every day, their navy is being wiped out, their production capacity is being demolished, and proxies are hardly putting up a fight.”
Two officials familiar with the intelligence also said that China does not appear to be assisting Iran militarily in the current conflict, despite close ties between the two countries.
Military analysts say the pattern of Iranian strikes suggests access to accurate targeting data. Recent attacks have focused on early warning radar systems, command-and-control infrastructure, and other critical military facilities, according to the WP.
Iran’s military operates only a limited number of military-grade satellites and lacks its own large satellite constellation, which could make Russian space-based intelligence particularly valuable.
Russia’s military has significantly improved its own targeting capabilities during years of war in Ukraine, giving it extensive experience in gathering and exploiting battlefield intelligence.
According to Dara Massicot, a specialist on the Russian military at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, the Iranian strikes show a notable level of precision.
“Iran is making very precise hits on early warning radars or over-the-horizon radars,” Massicot said. “They’re doing this in a very targeted way. They’re going after command and control.”
Nicole Grajewski, a researcher studying cooperation between Iran and Russia at Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center, also noted the level of sophistication in Iran’s recent attacks.
She said the strikes show significant precision in both the choice of targets and the ability in some cases to overwhelm US and allied defensive systems.
Earlier, Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, signaled Russia could continue providing military support to Iran amid a US-Israel operation.
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