Iran transfers ballistic missiles to Russia, sources say

By Natasha Bertrand and Kylie Atwood, CNN

(CNN) — Iran recently transferred short-range ballistic missiles to Russia to use in the war against Ukraine, according to two sources familiar with the intelligence, completing a delivery that US and Western officials had warned was in the works for almost a year.

It is not clear when exactly the missiles were delivered, but their transfer comes as Russia has intensified its missile and drone attacks on Ukrainian cities and as Ukraine braces for large-scale Russian attacks on its energy infrastructure this winter. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told allies at a meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group in Germany on Friday that Ukraine urgently needed more air defense systems.

The Wall Street Journal first reported that Iran had delivered the missiles.

National Security Council spokesperson Sean Savett told CNN in a statement that “any transfer of Iranian ballistic missiles to Russia would represent a dramatic escalation in Iran’s support” for the Kremlin in its invasion of Ukraine.

“We have been warning of the deepening security partnership between Russia and Iran since the outset of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine and are alarmed by these reports. We and our partners have made clear both at the G7 and at the NATO summits this summer that together we are prepared to deliver significant consequences,” Savett said.

The provision of ballistic missiles marks a significant escalation of Iran’s support for Russia. Iran has already provided Russia with hundreds of drones that Russian forces have used in their war against Ukraine, and Russia has been building a drone-manufacturing facility in country with Iran’s help, CNN has reported.

Iran’s Permanent Mission to the United Nations denied the transfer had been carried out in statement to CNN.

“Iran’s position vis-à-vis the Ukraine conflict remains unchanged. Iran considers the provision of military assistance to the parties engaged in the conflict—which leads to increased human casualties, destruction of infrastructure, and a distancing from ceasefire negotiations—to be inhumane. Thus, not only does Iran abstain from engaging in such actions itself, but it also calls upon other countries to cease the supply of weapons to the sides involved in the conflict,” the statement said.

Russian negotiations to acquire the close-range ballistic missiles from Iran began as early as last September, officials previously told CNN,  when then-Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu traveled to Iran to view the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Ababil close-range ballistic missile systems.

“This event marked the first public display of ballistic missiles to a senior Russian official visiting Iran since the start of the Russia-Ukraine war,” an official told CNN in January.

In March the G7 issued a strong joint statement warning that the international community’s response will include “new and significant measures against Iran” if the country moves ahead with sending ballistic missiles to Russia to use in its war effort against Ukraine.

Last December, the IRGC deployed ballistic missiles and missile support systems to a training area inside Iran to display to a visiting Russian delegations—all signs that Russia intended to purchase the systems from Iran.

Russia has also been getting missiles and missile components from North Korea, CNN has previously reported. And China is helping Russia ramp up its defense industrial base at such a large scale that Moscow is now undertaking its most ambitious expansion in military manufacturing since the Soviet era, officials have said. China’s support to Russia has included significant quantities of machine tools, drone and turbojet engines and technology for cruise missiles.

CNN has asked the Russian embassy for comment.

This story has been updated with additional details.

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