Russia establishes route with Iran for uninterrupted supply of weapons - ISW

This is reported by the Institute for the Study of War.

"Russia will likely seek further bilateral cooperation with Iran in order to secure a greater number of high-precision weapons systems for use in Ukraine," the report said.

It is noted that Russia and Iran are building a new transcontinental trade route to bypass sanctions and "foreign interference". Russian and Iranian officials may be partly negotiating the trade route to support more consistent arms supplies between the two countries, experts say.

On December 28, Iranian state media said that Iran will soon receive 24 Su-35 fighter jets from Russia, probably in exchange for Iranian-made drones and ballistic missiles.

A Russian blogger said these precision weapons systems would allow Russian forces to strike Ukrainian rear areas protected by Western anti-aircraft and anti-missile systems more effectively than their current manned aircraft.

"Senior US officials reported on December 9 that Russia is providing an unprecedented level of military and technical support to Iran in exchange for Iranian-made weapons systems," the Institute for the Study of War added.

• At the end of December 2022 in the United States, Iran warned that "the patience of baseless accusations and obscene statements is not unlimited". Indeed, in a speech to the US Congress, Ukrainian President Zelenskyy said that hundreds of deadly drones sent by Iran to Russia had become a threat to Ukraine's critical infrastructure.

• Subsequently, the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs threatened Ukraine with legal consequences for accusing Tehran of supplying Russia with drones.

• On December 29, 2022, a representative of the Defence Intelligence of Ukraine Andriy Yusov noted that there are preliminary agreements on the supply of Iranian ballistic missiles to Russia, but not everyone in Iran wants to help Putin.