Washington Post: Russia provides intelligence to Iran to target US forces

According to the Washington Post, Russia is providing Iran with useful information to target U.S. forces in the Middle East.

The newspaper cites three intelligence-related sources.

This support would indicate a rapid escalation of the conflict, involving one of Washington's main nuclear rivals.

“It really seems to be a rather comprehensive effort,” one of the sources stated.

The extent of Russian assistance is, however, not entirely defined.

The same sources report that, less than a week after the fighting began, the Iranian military's ability to locate U.S. forces has reportedly diminished.

Two officials familiar with Russia's support for Tehran also clarified that there does not appear to be a role for China in Iran's defense, despite the close ties between the two countries.

According to several analysts, the sharing of intelligence fits into the pattern of Iranian attacks against U.S. targets.

“The Russians are more than aware of the assistance we are providing to the Ukrainians,” said a U.S. official informed about Moscow's support for Tehran.

“I think they are very happy to try to get some kind of revenge,” he added.

Iran is “conducting very precise surveys on early warning radars or over-the-horizon radars,” explained Dara Massicot, a Russian military expert at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

“They are doing it in a very targeted way. They are aiming at command and control,” she continued.

Nicole Grajewski, a scholar of Iran-Russia cooperation at the Belfer Center at the Harvard Kennedy School, noted that Iranian retaliations have shown a high degree of sophistication, both in target selection and, in some cases, in their ability to challenge the defenses of the United States and its allies.