June 25, 2025
Hanna Notte
The following is an excerpt from the Financial Times.
As Israel and Iran begin a ceasefire after nearly two weeks of war that significantly damaged Tehran’s military and nuclear infrastructure, one might think that Russia is worried about the ramifications for its own military campaign in Ukraine. Russia has had to watch Israel claim control of the skies over Tehran and knock out Iran’s air defences, an achievement that has eluded Moscow in Ukraine.
Israeli and US strikes have also destroyed or damaged Iran’s uranium enrichment facilities and Israel has impaired Iran’s drone and missile production. Iranian weapons — especially drones — have been valuable to Russia’s war effort. Now, having taken such a serious beating, Tehran will need to rebuild and might not be able to aid the Kremlin in Ukraine for quite a while.
Iran provided Russia with badly needed Shahed 136 combat drones and their production technology early in the Ukraine war. With time, the infamous Shahed (rechristened by Russia as the Geran-2) became the cornerstone of Russia’s deep-strike attack campaign in Ukraine. Iran also supported Russia’s war in other ways, ferrying artillery shells and other ammunition across the Caspian Sea. Signalling a desire to deepen their defence ties, Iran and Russia signed a strategic partnership treaty in January.
Continue reading at the Financial Times.
