So far, other than some pro forma protests, Russia hasn’t dipped their oar in the ongoing effort to dismantle the theocratic regime in Iran. On Friday, however, reports have surfaced that Russia may be providing the Iranian regime – what’s left of it, anyway – with targeting data, allowing the Iranians to more accurately target American ships and aircraft.
If this is true, that’s a significant change in Russian involvement.
Russia is providing Iran with targeting information to attack American forces in the Middle East, the first indication that another major U.S. adversary is participating — even indirectly — in the war, according to three officials familiar with the intelligence.
The assistance, which has not been previously reported, signals that the rapidly expanding conflict now features one of America’s chief nuclear-armed competitors with exquisite intelligence capabilities.
Since the war began Saturday, Russia has passed Iran the locations of U.S. military assets, including warships and aircraft, said the three officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the matter’s sensitivity.
A little skepticism is in order here. While Russia has long been an Iranian ally, there has been no previous information of this kind of intelligence sharing. It would be a major diplomatic brouhaha with the United States if Russia were caught doing this, and it would also seem to be a losing move for Russia; with each passing day, it looks more and more like the Islamic Republic of Iran will be joining the Achaemenid Empire in that it will exist only in history books.
Supporting a loser in a major conflict wouldn’t be the smartest thing Russia has ever done. But then, there’s this:
Reached by The Washington Post on Friday, Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin spokesman, declined to comment on the intelligence findings. Moscow has called for an end to the war, which it labeled an “unprovoked act of armed aggression.”
The extent of Russia’s targeting assistance to Iran was not entirely clear. The Iranian military’s own ability to locate U.S. forces has been degraded less than a week into the fighting, the officials said.
The Iranian military’s own ability to keep passing air in and out of their lungs has been degraded, as well, which is kind of the objective of the entire exercise.
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Note, however, that Peskov’s statement isn’t exactly a denial. This may well be Russia, being cagey. The thing about “Russia being cagey” is that they aren’t very good at it, and the next statement, claiming that this war is an unprovoked act of armed aggression, blatantly ignores 47 years of history. Iran has been provoking a response from the United States, from Israel, from the civilized world in general, since 1979. For 47 years, Iran has attacked, they have sent money and weapons to groups like Hezbollah and Hamas, and have supported atrocities like the Oct 7th, 2023, attack on Israeli civilians. The only thing baffling about the American and Israeli decision that, finally, enough is enough, is that it took this long.
In the end, even if Russia is hedging their bets by passing some data on to Iran, in the end, it won’t make much difference. The Iranians are running out of stuff to shoot at our forces. Putin’s Russia may well be thinking, just in the off chance the Iranian regime manages to survive, that they can claim, “Hey, we tried to help you.” But in the end, this won’t make that much difference, even if it turns out to be true.
Editor’s Note: For decades, former presidents have been all talk and no action. Now, Donald Trump is eliminating the threat from Iran once and for all.
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