The swath of destabilizing activities supported or executed by Iran in the Middle East and beyond is wide.
It encompasses attacks by Iran’s proxies, the Houthis, against commercial shipping in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden as well as the monitoring and intelligence Iran itself provides the Houthis for targeting ships; the horrific October 7 assault on Israeli civilians by Iran’s proxy, Hamas; launching drones and other weapons across the Lebanon border into northern Israel by Iran-supported Hezbollah; drone and missile attacks on U.S. counter-ISIS forces in Iraq and Syria by Iran-backed militias; and Iran’s drones to Russia that kill Ukrainian civilians.
Now the United States is concerned that Iran is also considering expanding its aid to Russia’s unjustified assault on Ukraine by providing Moscow with close-range ballistic missiles.
U.S. National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications John Kirby noted that while the United States does not believe Iran has delivered the missiles to Russia yet, the two are in “actively advancing” negotiations.
“In September of 2023, Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps — the IRGC — hosted Russian Defense Minister Shoigu in Iran and showcased its Ababil close-range ballistic missile and other missile systems. This event marked the first public display of ballistic missiles to a senior Russian official visiting Iran since February of 2022,” he said.
“More recently, in mid-December, the IRGC Aerospace Force deployed multiple ballistic missile and missile support systems to a training area inside Iran for display to a visiting Russian delegation. We assess that Russia intends to purchase missile systems from Iran.”
Coordinator Kirby said that due to U.S. sanctions and export controls, Russia has become increasingly isolated on the world stage and has been forced to look to like-minded states for military equipment. Those states include North Korea and Iran.
In response, he said, the United States and its allies will raise the issue of these arms deals at the U.N. Security Council. The United States will also impose additional sanctions against those facilitating such deals and will publicly expose them to prevent countries from aiding Russia’s war machine in secret.
As President Joe Biden has said, the United States continues to “work with our partners to address Iran’s destabilizing activities that threaten regional and global security.”
