A collection of unnamed sources, including a senior European intelligence officer and a Middle Eastern diplomat, have told The Wall Street Journal that Russia has been expanding its intelligence sharing and military cooperation with Iran, providing satellite imagery and improved drone technology to aid Tehran’s targeting of U.S. forces in the region. The technology provided includes components of modified Shahed drones, which are meant to improve communication, navigation, and targeting, the people said. Russia has also been drawing on its experience using drones in Ukraine, offering tactical guidance on how many drones should be used in operations and what altitudes they should strike from, the sources said.
Analysts told the Journal that the assistance is similar to the intelligence the U.S. and European allies have given to Ukraine in recent years. In the Gulf, Moscow’s aid is believed to have helped Iran with recent strikes on U.S. radar systems in the region, said the people. Those strikes have included an early warning radar for a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, or THAAD, system in Jordan, as well as other targets in Bahrain, Kuwait, and Oman.
