Here is the piece of the Iran war coverage that keeps getting buried, and that every American needs to understand: Russian intelligence sharing is helping Iran target American forces.
That is not speculation from a think tank. It has been reported by multiple outlets, backed by Ukrainian intelligence, and confirmed in part by Western sources. And in the last week of April, Vladimir Putin went on camera to praise the Iranian war effort while Tehran’s foreign minister sat across from him.
What We Know About Russian Intelligence Sharing With Iran
On March 6, less than a week after the United States and Israel launched the air war against Iran, NBC News reported, citing four sources, that Russia was providing Iran with intelligence on the location of U.S. forces in the Middle East. The sources said the help could allow Iran to locate American warships, radar and communication systems. They also said there was no indication Moscow was directing Iranian strikes. The Washington Post first reported the assistance.
Asked about it at the White House, President Trump called it a “stupid” question and said it was “an easy problem compared to what we’re doing here.”
A month later, the picture got sharper. On April 7, Reuters reported on a Ukrainian intelligence assessment that cited at least 24 Russian satellite surveys of 11 Middle Eastern countries between March 21 and 31. They covered 46 sites, including U.S. and allied military bases, airports and oilfields. Within days of being surveyed, bases and headquarters were hit by Iranian missiles and drones, the assessment said.
One case stands out. A regional security source told Reuters that a Russian satellite imaged Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia days before Iran struck it on March 27, damaging a U.S. E-3 Sentry surveillance aircraft. The next day, a Russian satellite passed over again to assess the damage, according to the assessment summarized by The Guardian. A Western military source backed up the broader claims.
Why This Matters
Russian satellites tracking American positions, followed by Iranian strikes on those positions, is the definition of a hostile act by proxy. Moscow is not pulling the trigger. It is helping aim the weapon. American sailors and airmen are in that region right now, and the American public deserves a clear public response from the administration.
The Weapons Trade Runs Both Ways
The Russia-Iran relationship did not start with this war. In 2022, Iran began supplying Russia with Shahed attack drones that were used against Ukrainian cities. In September 2024, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Russia had received Iranian short-range ballistic missiles and would likely use them in Ukraine within weeks, Reuters reported.
Now the flow appears to be reversing. Russia builds its own version of the Shahed, called the Geran-2. On March 15, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Russia is supplying Iran with Shahed drones for use in this war. That claim comes from a party with an obvious interest in the outcome, and it has not been independently confirmed. But it fits the pattern: two authoritarian regimes trading weapons and intelligence to tie down the United States and its partners.
The Persian Gulf and Ukraine are no longer separate theaters. They are connected by the same partnership.
The Diplomacy in the Last Week of April
On April 21, hours before the ceasefire was set to expire, Trump extended it with no end date, at least until Iran could produce a “unified” proposal to end the war. The U.S. naval blockade of Iranian ports stayed in place. That was a shift in terms: no longer just negotiate, but come back with one coherent position.
On Saturday, April 25, Trump called off a planned trip to Islamabad by envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, posting that there had been “too much time wasted on traveling.” Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi had already been in Pakistan. Trump said Iran sent a “much better” proposal within minutes of the cancellation. On Fox News that Sunday, he said that if Iran wants to talk, “there is a telephone,” NBC News reported.
Rubio Rejects Iran’s Offer
Iran’s proposal, as reported by Axios and NBC News, would focus on opening the Strait of Hormuz and ending the war while putting talks on its nuclear program off until later. On April 27, Secretary of State Marco Rubio rejected it on Fox News. “What they mean by opening the straits is, yes, the straits are open, as long as you coordinate with Iran, get our permission, or we’ll blow you up, and you pay us,” he said, according to The Times of Israel. “That’s not opening the straits.”
Rubio was right. The nuclear program was the core reason for this war. An offer that relieves the economic pressure while postponing the nuclear question would hand Iran the outcome it wants without giving up anything that matters.
Putin Goes on Camera
The same day, Araghchi met Putin in St. Petersburg. With reporters present, Putin said he saw “how courageously and heroically the people of Iran are fighting for their independence” and that Russia would “do everything that serves your interests and the interests of all the peoples of the region,” according to NBC News and the Kremlin. He also said he had received a message from Iran’s new supreme leader.
That is not neutrality. That is the president of Russia publicly validating a war effort against the United States. Russia benefits from every day America is tied down in the Persian Gulf, because those are resources not focused on Europe. Russia is doing what a strategic adversary in its position would do. The question is what Washington is going to do about it. At a minimum, that means saying publicly what Russian intelligence sharing with Iran means for the sailors and airmen in harm’s way, and making Moscow pay a price for it. Allies who refuse to help secure the Strait make that question harder.
The Smaller Moves That Also Matter
Gulf states have been rolling up suspected Iranian networks during the ceasefire. On April 21, the UAE’s State Security Department arrested 27 men it accused of terrorist activity and links to Iran, the largest such arrest since the war began. Earlier in April, Kuwait arrested 24 citizens, including five former lawmakers, in a probe into the financing of terrorist entities, though its statement did not name a country.
Iran’s new supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, was appointed after his father was killed in an airstrike. As of late April he had not been seen or heard in public, The Times of Israel reported. When Trump extended the ceasefire, he pointed to a “seriously fractured” Iranian government. A regime that cannot speak with one voice is a regime that struggles to make binding concessions.
Update (November 2026)
Added November 2026. On June 17, the United States and Iran signed a memorandum of understanding that declared an end to military operations, began lifting the U.S. blockade and committed both sides to a final deal within 60 days, according to the full text published by the BBC. That truce did not hold. As of November 9, the war had passed eight months, mutual attacks were continuing, and Rubio called Iran’s latest conditions “outrageous and ridiculous,” Reuters reported via NBC News.
Sources
- NBC News: Russia is providing intelligence to Iran on the location of U.S. forces
- AP: Russia gave Iran information that could help strikes on U.S. military
- Reuters: Russia supplies Iran with cyber support, spy imagery, Ukraine says
- The Guardian: Kyiv lays out how “Russian satellites help Iran in war”
- Reuters: Russia is supplying Iran with Shahed drones, Zelenskiy says
- Reuters: US says Russia received missiles from Iran (September 2024)
- NBC News: Trump extends ceasefire with Iran
- NBC News: Iran presented Trump with proposal to open Strait of Hormuz and delay nuclear talks
- The Times of Israel: Rubio rejects new Iranian proposal to reopen Strait of Hormuz
- President of Russia: Meeting with Foreign Minister of Iran Abbas Araghchi
- Semafor: UAE arrests Iran-linked terror cell
- Arab News: 24 arrested in Kuwait over “financing of terror”
- BBC News: US-Iran memorandum of understanding in full
- NBC News/Reuters: U.S. signals breakthrough in Iran talks unlikely
