Russian military experts visited Iran on two occasions in 2024 as Tehran looked to expand its cooperation with Moscow while its network of resistance suffered devastating blows amid war with Israel.
“Russian missile specialists don’t just appear out of the blue,” Behnam Ben Taleblu, senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told Fox News Digital.
“Alarm bells should be going off in Washington and Jerusalem,” Taleblu added.
Senior missile and air defense experts traveled to Tehran in April and September 2024, Reuters reported, as Iran was embroiled in regional confrontation with Israel following the Oct. 7 Hamas terror attack.
FDD’s Taleblu said the visit is proof that any effort to divorce Russia from Iran will be self-defeating for the United States.
It is unclear exactly what kind of cooperation was discussed during these visits. Nicholas Carl of the American Enterprise Institute notes that it comes at a time when Iran is looking to Russia for further air defense support and Russia is buying Iranian drones and missiles to use against Ukraine. Experts, including Carl, agree that Russia and Iran are increasingly collaborating to keep one another strong and in pursuit of their mutual objective of eroding U.S. global influence.
Cooperation between Russia and Iran has intensified since Moscow launched its invasion of Ukraine. Iran came to Russia’s aid and supplied drones and ammunition when its forces faced stiff resistance from Ukraine, while Iran in 2023 purchased Russian fighter jets and helicopters.
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Moscow and Tehran further deepened their partnership in January after signing a 20-year “comprehensive strategic partnership treaty,” although the pact does not have a collective security agreement.
The revelations come as the Kremlin said future Russia-U.S. talks will include discussions over Iran’s nuclear program. Bloomberg reported that Moscow agreed to assist the U.S. in talks over Iran’s nuclear program, although Kremlin officials refused to confirm, and instead said that it would merely be a topic of discussion.
Andrea Stricker, who focuses on nonproliferation at FDD, told Fox News Digital that, if true, outsourcing Iran nuclear talks to Russia is not a recipe for success.
“As a key ally, Moscow has a vested interest in keeping Iran close to the nuclear threshold. If he pursues diplomacy, Trump should accept no less than the full, permanent, and verified nuclear disarmament of Iran,” Stricker added.
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Trump withdrew from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, also known as the Iran nuclear deal, during his first term in 2018 and reapplied harsh economic sanctions. The Biden administration had initially looked at re-engaging with Iran on the nuclear issue upon taking office, but on-again-off-again talks went nowhere, complicated by Iran’s domestic politics and its role in supporting its terror groups in the region.
Putting a halt to Iran’s nuclear program could be an issue where the U.S. and Russia find common ground.
Since returning to the White House, President Trump has sought to improve relations with Russia, which were mostly cut off by the Biden administration after Russia invaded Ukraine. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and U.S. officials met Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in Saudi Arabia last month and agreed to improve relations, expand economic ties, and ultimately bring an end to the war in Ukraine.
