Russia Backing Iran In War With US-Israel By Sharing Military Intel: Report

Russia has entered the war between the US-Israel alliance and Iran, although indirectly. Russia is providing its strategic ally Iran with intelligence to help attack US warships and aircraft in the Middle East, according to a report by the Washington Post.

The extent of Russia's support to Iran was not entirely clear, but the Iranian military's own ability to locate US forces has been degraded since the US and Israel launched strikes against Tehran last week, the publication reported. 

Six US troops were killed and 18 others were wounded after an Iranian drone strike on Sunday, in Kuwait. The drone hit a command centre in Port Shuaiba after bypassing regional air defences.

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Iran is "making very precise hits on early warning radars or over-the-horizon radars. They're doing this in a very targeted way. They're going after command and control," Dara Massicot, an expert on the Russian military at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, told the Post. 

Massicot said that Iran only has a few military-grade satellites and no satellite constellation of its own, and Russia's advanced space capabilities are proving to be valuable. 

"The Iranian regime is being absolutely crushed. Their ballistic missile retaliation is decreasing every day, their navy is being wiped out, their production capacity is being demolished, and proxies are hardly putting up a fight," White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly told the Post.

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"They're getting through air defences," said Nicole Grajewski, who studies Iran's cooperation with Russia at the Harvard Kennedy School's Belfer Center. She noted that since Iran's 12-day war with the US and Israel last year, its strikes have improved.

Hegseth Says Russia, China, 'Non-Factors' In Iran War

The US Defence Secretary on Wednesday dismissed that Russia and China are 'non-factors' in the Iran war. "I don't have a message for them, and they're not really a factor here, and our issue is not with them," he said.

Moscow has longstanding diplomatic, trade and military ties with Iran. Moreover, both Moscow and Beijing have slammed the US-Israeli strikes on Iran, saying that they had seen no evidence that Tehran was developing nuclear weapons. Beijing has called for an end to the conflict.

A fireball ascends from the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted an area in Beirut's southern suburbs on March 6, 2026.
Photo Credit: AFP

Russia was in dialogue with representatives of Iran's leadership, the Kremlin said on Friday. It declined to provide details when asked by reporters whether Moscow was helping Tehran. 

The conflict has been an unexpected shot in the arm for Russia, with a significant bump in demand for its oil and gas, boosting exports battered in recent years by sanctions linked to its war in Ukraine. The United States has given Ukraine intelligence information during its war with Russia.

Trump's Demand Of Iran's "Unconditional Surrender"

Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump has demanded Iran's "unconditional surrender" as the only acceptable outcome to end hostilities on Friday.

"There will be no deal with Iran except UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER," Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.

The post came as Israel bombarded regime targets in Tehran and Hezbollah positions in Beirut, and Hegseth said US strikes against Iran were "about to surge dramatically".

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Trump said that following any capitulation by the Islamic Republic, the United States and its allies would work to bring Iran "back from the brink of destruction, making it economically bigger, better, and stronger than ever before."

He closed with a new slogan - "MAKE IRAN GREAT AGAIN (MIGA!)" - a riff on his "Make America Great Again" political brand.