Russia sends some US-provided weapons captured in Ukraine to Iran 

Four sources told CNN that over the last year, Western officials have seen several instances of Russian forces seizing smaller, shoulder-fired weapons equipment including Javelin and Stinger systems that Ukrainian forces have at times been forced to leave on the battlefield.

According to sources, in many of those instances, Russia has flown the equipment to Iran for disassembly and analysis, perhaps so that the Iranian military can try to produce its own version of the weapons. According to the sources, Russia believes that by giving Iran captured Western weapons it will secure Tehran’s support in the war against Ukraine.

“US officials don’t believe that the issue is widespread or systematic, and the Ukrainian military has made it a habit since the beginning of the war to report to the Pentagon any losses of US-provided equipment to Russian forces,” the article says. Still, US officials acknowledge that the issue is difficult to track.

It's unclear whether Iran has successfully reverse-engineered any US weaponry seized in Ukraine, but Tehran has demonstrated exceptional skill in creating weapon systems based on previously captured US equipment.

“A key weapon in Iran’s inventory, the Toophan anti-tank guided missile, was reverse engineered from the American BGM-71 TOW missile in the 1970s. The Iranians also intercepted a US-made drone in 2011, a Lockheed Martin RQ-170 “Sentinel”, and reverse-engineered it to create a new drone that crossed into Israeli airspace in 2018 before being shot down,” CNN journalists remind.

Senior US military officials, including Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Mark Milley and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, were both in the Middle East this month to discuss threats posed by Iran.

“Iran is gaining important battlefield expertise and experience in Ukraine that will eventually transfer to its dangerous proxies in the Middle East,” Austin said. “In return for Iranian support in Ukraine, Russia has been offering Iran unprecedented defense cooperation, including on missiles and air defense,” he added.

• On March 9, a senior US military official said that Ukraine becomes "battle lab" for testing Iranian weapons