Iran has sent close-range ballistic missiles to Russia, which could start using them to attack Ukraine “within weeks,” Pentagon officials said Tuesday.
The missiles can reach a maximum of 75 miles and allow Russia to maintain its stocks of more valuable, and more menacing, long-range fires, according to Pentagon Press Secretary Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder.
While Russia hasn’t yet used them, Ryder said dozens of its military personnel have trained inside Iran on the missile system — known as the Fath 360. Ryder wouldn’t specify how many Russia has received, but the U.S. Treasury Department said that Moscow signed a contract late last year for “hundreds” of missiles, with the first such batch now arriving.
“This is a deeply concerning development,” Ryder said during a Tuesday briefing.
Since its full-scale invasion of Ukraine two years ago, Russia has relied on its partners — in almost all cases other U.S. adversaries — to refill its stocks. Iran has been a particularly avid supplier, shipping one-way attack drones, missiles and other lethal aid to Russia throughout the war.
In return, Russia is sharing other information with Iran, including on nuclear and space technology, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Tuesday.
“This is a two-way street,” said Blinken, who is traveling to Kyiv to meet with members of the Ukrainian government.
Last week, U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin gathered a group of countries that regularly meet to support Ukraine’s self-defense. There, as in past meetings, the officials discussed how to supply Kyiv with enough air defense missiles and batteries. Russia has routinely battered Ukrainian military and civilian targets during the war, and in recent weeks launched its two largest salvos to date.
In response, Ukraine has asked repeatedly that the U.S. lift limits on how far inside Russia it can fire its own long-range weapons provided by the U.S. The White House so far has declined to do so, in part out out of concern that looser rules could escalate the war and in part because the long-range ATACMS missiles are scarce.
“I don’t believe one specific capability will be decisive,” Austin said after the meeting last week, arguing also that Russia had already moved almost all of its threatening aircraft out of range.
Noah Robertson is the Pentagon reporter at Defense News. He previously covered national security for the Christian Science Monitor. He holds a bachelor’s degree in English and government from the College of William & Mary in his hometown of Williamsburg, Virginia.
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