Russia helping Iran? Moscow providing real time intelligence to Tehran on American military assets

Russia has been providing Iran with real-time intelligence on the locations of American military assets in the Middle East, including warships and aircraft, potentially helping Tehran target US forces during the ongoing conflict, according to a report citing officials familiar with the intelligence.According to The Washington Post, three officials said Moscow has shared information on the locations of US warships, aircraft and other military assets since the war began on Saturday. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter.

The assistance marks the first reported indication that another major US adversary may be indirectly involved in the conflict, which has rapidly escalated across the region.“It does seem like it’s a pretty comprehensive effort,” one of the officials told the newspaper.

Intelligence sharing and Iranian strikes

Officials said the extent of Russia’s targeting support was not fully clear, but noted that Iran’s own ability to track US forces had been degraded in the early days of the war.Analysts say the reported intelligence sharing could help explain the precision of some Iranian strikes on US-linked targets. Since the conflict began, Iran has launched thousands of one-way attack drones and hundreds of missiles toward US military positions, embassies and other targets in the region.One of the attacks on Sunday killed six US troops in Kuwait and injured several others when an Iranian drone struck a military facility.Dara Massicot, a Russia military expert at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, said some of Iran’s strikes have targeted critical infrastructure such as radar systems.“Iran is making very precise hits on early warning radars or over-the-horizon radars,” she said. “They’re doing this in a very targeted way. They’re going after command and control.”The CIA station at the US embassy in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia’s capital, was also struck in recent days.

Satellite capabilities and improved targeting

Experts say Russia’s advanced satellite capabilities could significantly improve Iran’s targeting ability.Iran has only a limited number of military-grade satellites and lacks its own satellite constellation, making imagery from Russia particularly valuable. Moscow has also refined its intelligence and targeting capabilities during the war in Ukraine.Nicole Grajewski of the Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center, who studies Russia–Iran cooperation, said the quality of Iran’s retaliatory strikes appears to have improved.“They’re getting through air defenses,” she said, adding that the strikes showed a high degree of “sophistication” in the selection of targets and the ability to overwhelm some US and allied defence systems.

Washington response and China’s role

The CIA and the Pentagon declined to comment on the report.A White House spokeswoman, Anna Kelly, did not address the alleged Russian assistance but said the US campaign was weakening Iran’s military capabilities.“The Iranian regime is being absolutely crushed,” she said. “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.”US defence secretary Pete Hegseth said earlier this week that Russia and China were “not really a factor here” when asked about their possible involvement.Two officials cited in the report said China does not appear to be assisting Iran’s military response, despite close ties between the two countries.

Wider geopolitical context

Russia has publicly called for an end to the conflict, describing it as an “unprovoked act of armed aggression”. The Russian embassy in Washington did not respond to a request for comment from The Washington Post.The reported intelligence sharing also reflects the evolving dynamics among US adversaries. During the Ukraine war, Iran, China and North Korea have provided various forms of military or material support to Russia, while the United States has supplied Ukraine with weapons and intelligence to improve targeting of Russian forces.Iran has been a key partner for Moscow in that conflict, providing technology for low-cost one-way attack drones that Russia has used extensively against Ukrainian cities and infrastructure.“The Russians are more than aware of the assistance that we’re giving the Ukrainians,” one of the officials told the newspaper. “I think they were very happy to try to get some payback.”Despite the reported intelligence support, analysts say Moscow is unlikely to directly enter the conflict as it remains heavily focused on the war in Ukraine.“The Kremlin is very much considering this is not their problem and not their war,” Massicot said, adding that from a strategic standpoint “Ukraine is still far and away the number one priority.”