Zolfaghar ballistic missile. (Tasnim News)
Iran has provided Russia with hundreds of surface-to-surface ballistic missiles, Reuters reported on February 21, citing different sources.
Three Iranian sources told the news agency that Russia received 400 missiles, many from the Fateh-110 family of short-range ballistic weapons, including the Zolfaghar. This road-mobile missile is capable of striking targets at a distance of between 300 and 700 kilometers and has pinpoint accuracy.
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, according to one of the sources.
An Iranian military official told Reuters that there have been at least four shipments of missiles and there would be more in the coming weeks.
Another official said that 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.”
A fourth source confirmed that Russia had received a large number of missiles from Iran recently, without providing further details.
Meanwhile, a United States official told the news agency that Washington had seen evidence of talks actively advancing but no indication yet of deliveries having taken place. The official’s remarks cast some serious doubts on the claims made by the alleged Iranian officials.
What adds to the doubts is the fact that there have been no reports of the Russian military using any type of Iranian-made missiles in the special military operation zone in Ukraine.
Military cooperation between Russia and Iran grew after the start of the special military operation. Both the U.S. and Ukraine claim that Iran has been supplying Russian with suicide drones, namely the Shahed-131 and 136, which has a range of 900 kilometers and over 2,000 kilometers respectively.
Nevertheless, Tehran denies this and Moscow says that its military uses homegrown suicide drones, dubbed the Geran-1 and 2.
Reuter’s report came amid reports of a new push in the U.S. to supply Ukraine with ATACMS ballistic missiles, which are capable of targeting the Crimean Peninsula and its bridge from Ukrainian territory as they have a range of up to 500 kilometers.
It also came as the U.S. continued to provide support for Israel -the main foe of Iran- in its war on the Gaza Strip, which has so far claimed the lives of more than 29,000 Palestinians.
Taking this and the fact that Russia already produces a highly-effective short-range ballistic missile, the Iskander, into account, it is possible that the report is an attempt to justify the supply of more advanced weapons to Ukraine and the continuation of unconditional support for Israel.
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note, the use of these missiles has not yet been reported. also, this is from reuters…
but but but but but muh sanctionz
dw: russia’s economy going strong.
“two years of sanctions have failed to weaken the russian economy enough to stop it waging war against ukraine. if anything, the opposite has happened: russia’s economy grew by 3.6% in 2023.”
sanctions works people… look at iran and russia… oh shit nvm.
the real joke is israel economy.
“israel’s economy sinks 20%”
no sanctions on israel, not even 4 months into gaza war… war against people in jail and that is how their “gofundme” economy is doing.
i’m not joking western sanctions are designed to hurt western economy…
the real joke is a russian troll making fun of a salary 10 times higher than his, that’s not funny, 100 years of looking at their neighbors who earn 10 times more than them
the real joke is a rtd thinking i’m russian.
also, you don’t need to hide your ugly face kiddo, i made fun of zionist pigs and this rtd just grow out of an indian cow shit.
oh btw the people in the us makes more money… well why their civilian infrastructure in such bad shape? why they have so many poor people and homeless? 10 times worse… moron they don’t pay that much for food and other goods.
iranian missiles hitting europe lol!!!
so what! us sent thousands of weapons to ukraine and isis and pays them too.
iran makes very effective missiles and it will use them to defend itself if necessary.
so f^^king what! the us, uk, nato scum sent the uki nazis hundreds of thousands of shells and other munitions to kill civilians.
basically, russia offers north korea and iran a practical way to test their tech in real-life war scenario. all the existing bugs and issue will be worked out and in a short time north-korea and iran will have improved their missile technology. win win
glória à mãe rússia e ao invencível irã.