Russia has been capturing a number of the US and NATO-provided weapons and tools left on the battlefield in Ukraine and sending them to Iran, the place the US believes Tehran will attempt to reverse-engineer the programs, 4 sources acquainted with the matter informed CNN.
During the last 12 months, US, NATO and different Western officers have seen a number of situations of Russian forces seizing smaller, shoulder-fired weapons tools together with Javelin anti-tank and Stinger anti-aircraft programs that Ukrainian forces have at occasions been compelled to go away behind on the battlefield, the sources informed CNN.
In lots of these circumstances, Russia has then flown the tools to Iran to dismantle and analyze, doubtless so the Iranian army can try and make their very own model of the weapons, sources mentioned. Russia believes that persevering with to supply captured Western weapons to Iran will incentivize Tehran to keep up its assist for Russia’s battle in Ukraine, the sources mentioned.
US officers don’t imagine that the problem is widespread or systematic, and the Ukrainian army has made it a behavior because the starting of the battle to report back to the Pentagon any losses of US-provided tools to Russian forces, officers mentioned. Nonetheless, US officers acknowledge that the problem is tough to trace.
It’s not clear if Iran has efficiently reverse-engineered any US weapons taken in Ukraine, however Tehran has confirmed extremely adept at growing weapons programs primarily based on US tools seized up to now.
A key weapon in Iran’s stock, the Toophan anti-tank guided missile, was reverse engineered from the American BGM-71 TOW missile within the Nineteen Seventies. The Iranians additionally intercepted a US-made drone in 2011, a Lockheed Martin RQ-170 “Sentinel”, and reverse-engineered it to create a brand new drone that crossed into Israeli airspace in 2018 earlier than being shot down.
“Iran has demonstrated the aptitude to reverse-engineer US weapons up to now,” mentioned Jonathan Lord, a senior fellow and director of the Center East safety program on the Heart for a New American Safety. “They reverse-engineered the TOW anti-tank guided missile, making a near-perfect duplicate they known as the Toophan, and have since proliferated it to the Houthis and Hezbollah. Iran might do the identical with a Stinger, which might threaten each civil and army aviation all through the area. A reverse-engineered Javelin could possibly be utilized by Hamas or Hezbollah to threaten an Israeli Merkava tank. Within the palms of Iran’s proxies, these weapons pose an actual menace to Israel’s typical army forces.”
The coordination is yet one more instance of Moscow’s rising protection partnership with Tehran, which has intensified over the past 12 months as Russia has develop into more and more determined for exterior army assist for its battle towards Ukraine. The partnership is just not solely additional destabilizing Ukraine, but it surely might additionally threaten Iran’s neighbors within the Center East, Nationwide Safety Council spokesperson John Kirby mentioned final month.
CNN has reached out to the Russian embassy in Washington and the Iranian UN mission for remark.
Senior US army officers, together with Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Mark Milley and Secretary of Protection Lloyd Austin, have been each within the Center East this month for discussions with their counterparts there that centered across the threats posed by Iran, the Pentagon mentioned.
“Over the previous 12 months, Russia’s army cooperation with Iran has deepened. and that poses severe challenges for this area and for the protection of your residents,” Austin mentioned at a press convention alongside Israeli Protection Minister Yoav Gallant in Tel Aviv on Thursday.
“Iran is gaining essential battlefield experience and expertise in Ukraine that can finally switch to its harmful proxies within the Center East,” Austin mentioned. “In return for Iranian assist in Ukraine, Russia has been providing Iran unprecedented protection cooperation, together with on missiles and air protection.”
Large, unanticipated losses of kit and harsh Western sanctions have made it tough for Russia to proceed producing the weapons and ammunition it wants to keep up its offensive in Ukraine. Consequently, Russia has requested for and acquired tons of of drones from Iran, in addition to artillery and tank rounds, that Russian forces have used to devastating impact towards Ukrainian civilians and infrastructure.
In alternate, Iran has sought billions of {dollars} price of army tools from Russia, based on the White Home, together with fighter jets, radar programs and helicopters.
The Pentagon late final 12 months expanded its efforts to trace US weapons supplied to Ukraine, together with by means of on-site inspections carried out by US army personnel stationed on the US embassy in Kyiv.
Undersecretary of protection for coverage Colin Kahl informed lawmakers earlier this 12 months that the US has seen situations of the Russians capturing some US-provided programs on the battlefield, however not in giant numbers.
“What we’re not seeing is any proof of great diversion,” Kahl mentioned. “Our evaluation is, if a few of these programs have been diverted, it’s by Russians who’ve captured issues on the battlefield, which at all times occurs, however that there’s no proof the Ukrainians are diverting it to the black market.”
Requested about this reporting, a protection official referred CNN to Kahl’s feedback.
The State Division additionally mentioned in an October truth sheet that “pro-Russian forces’ seize of Ukrainian weapons, together with donated materiel, has been the primary vector of diversion to this point and will end in onward transfers.”
The division additionally particularly cited man-portable air protection programs – a class that features Stingers – and anti-tank missiles as “notably delicate and superior typical weapons” that, if diverted, might hinder regional safety.
Supply: CNN