The Russia-Iran axis, which has been a staple of Middle East politics for decades, has been strengthened even further as Iran has sent roughly 400 ballistic missiles to Russia.
Numerous sources informed Reuters that the weaponry, which was shipped starting in January, includes short-range ballistic weapons that can reach distances of between 186 and 435 miles.
“There will be more shipments,” an Iranian official said. “There is no reason to hide it. We are allowed to export weapons to any country that we wish to.”
The U.N. Security Council had imposed restrictions on Iran’s export of weaponry but that terminated in October, while the United States maintained sanctions. “These sanctions will exert pressure on Iran’s missile and UAV program in addition to constraining Iran’s conventional arms transfers and ongoing military relationships with countries like Venezuela and Russia, including Iran’s provision of UAVs that Moscow is using against civilian targets in Ukraine,” a senior State Department official stated at the time.
Jeffrey Lewis of the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey, said the ballistic missiles shipped to Russia could be “used to point at things that are high value and need precise damage.”
As far back as 2002, American intelligence and defense officials concluded that Russia was helping Iran with its nuclear weapons program. “Throughout the Cold War, Moscow strongly backed the Palestinians and other allies in the Arab world against Israel, giving them military and political support,” AP noted.
Russia and Hamas have been communicating for months; according to Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh, Russia invited various Palestinian groups, including the PLO, Hamas, and Islamic Jihad, to meet in Moscow in late February.
“We invited all Palestinian representatives – all political forces that have their positions in different countries, including Syria and Lebanon, other countries in the region,” Russian deputy foreign minister Mikhail Bogdanov noted. “Therefore, the composition is approximately the same as it was at the previous two inter-Palestinian meetings. These are from 12 to 14 organizations.” According to him, “These are, of course, mostly those that are part of the Palestine Liberation Organization, but there are also some structures that have not yet been included – these are Hamas and Islamic Jihad. Now we have invited them too.”
In October, after the October 7 Hamas massacre of 1200 Israelis, Moscow hosted a delegation from Hamas.