Russia shipping explosives, drone components to Iran to rebuild depleted arsenal — report

New report accuses Moscow of actively helping Iran rebuild its drone arsenal, which has been used for attacks on US forces, America’s Arab allies, and Israel.

By World Israel News Staff

Russia is shipping explosives, ammunition and drone components to Iran as Tehran works to rebuild weapons stockpiles depleted during nearly six months of war with the United States and Israel, according to a new report that points to a significant expansion of Moscow’s military support for the Islamic Republic.

The deliveries are being made across the Caspian Sea aboard Russian vessels, according to a European government document obtained by NBC News and confirmed to the network by a Western official.

The cargo includes TNT, components used in drones and small-arms ammunition, with more than two dozen Russian vessels reportedly participating in shipments to Iran’s Caspian port of Amirabad.

The deliveries could help Tehran replenish both weapons expended during the war and material lost when US and Israeli strikes hit Iranian weapons factories and other military infrastructure.

“Iran’s procurement of drone components and small arms ammunition from Russia strongly suggests that Israeli and US military strikes on Iran’s facilities that produce these items have degraded Iran’s domestic capability to produce them,” Jim Lamson, a former CIA analyst, told NBC.

Iran will consequently have “to rely, at least for the short term, on foreign suppliers for these items, until it is able to rebuild the necessary facilities in-country,” he added.

TNT can be used in the explosive payloads carried by Iranian ballistic missiles and attack drones, making the shipments potentially relevant to Tehran’s ability to continue striking American and allied targets even if its domestic production capacity has been damaged.

The size of the shipments and exactly how much they have restored Iran’s arsenal remain unclear.

A Russian official rejected NBC’s reporting, telling the network, “We don’t dignify fake news with an answer.”

The allegations nevertheless add to a growing body of evidence suggesting Russia has become increasingly involved in helping Iran withstand the US-led military campaign — and raise questions about assurances Russian President Vladimir Putin gave President Donald Trump only weeks ago.

Trump said in July that Putin had personally told him Russia would not sell weapons to Tehran.

“President Putin, likewise, told me that he would not sell Weapons to Iran,” Trump wrote at the time, while warning that Russian or Chinese intervention on Tehran’s behalf “would be very bad for them — Certainly not in their best interests.”

Asked later whether Moscow and Beijing were helping Iran, Trump said, “I don’t know that they’re enabling. I think I trust them.”

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth had offered a less categorical assessment days earlier.

“There are ways in which both of those countries are, at different levels, enabling some of the things Iran is doing, yes,” Hegseth told senators when asked about Russian and Chinese involvement.

The newly reported shipments would represent a striking reversal in the direction of the Russia-Iran arms trade.

Following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Iran became a major supplier of military technology to Moscow, most prominently through the Shahed family of one-way attack drones.

Russia subsequently established domestic production of Iranian-designed drones and developed modified versions that have been used extensively against Ukrainian cities and infrastructure.

The Caspian Sea became an important corridor for that military relationship.

US Treasury records show that MG-FLOT, the Russian shipping company linked to vessels identified in the latest shipments, has long moved cargo between Russia and Iran.

Washington sanctioned vessels operated by the company in 2024 after determining that one of them, the Port Olya-3, had been used by the Russian Defense Ministry to transport Iranian close-range ballistic missiles from Iran to Russia.

Other MG-FLOT vessels identified by the Treasury as regular travelers between the two countries included the Boris Kustodiev, Port Olya-4 and Kompozitor Rakhmaninov.

If the latest Western intelligence is accurate, the same maritime network that helped bring Iranian weapons northward for Russia’s war against Ukraine is now moving military material southward to support Iran against the United States and Israel.

The Caspian route is particularly difficult for Western powers to disrupt. The enclosed sea is bordered by Russia, Iran, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan and has no direct access for US or allied naval forces.

Ukraine has, however, begun targeting vessels it says are involved in the military supply route.

In July, Kyiv said its forces struck Russian vessels used to transport Iran-linked military cargo in the Caspian. Iran subsequently said an attack on one Iranian commercial vessel caused an explosion that killed a sailor and wounded another, describing the incident as a “hostile and criminal” act.

The reported arms transfers also follow accusations that Russia has provided Iran with intelligence support during its conflict with the United States.

A Ukrainian intelligence assessment reviewed by Reuters earlier this year alleged that Russian satellites conducted detailed surveys of American military installations, airfields and other strategic targets across the Middle East before some were attacked by Iranian missiles and drones.

Western and regional security officials told Reuters they had also observed increased Russian satellite activity and believed imagery had been shared with Tehran.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy renewed the accusation in July, saying Kyiv had recorded “active Russian satellite surveillance of the Gulf states and US military facilities located there.”

“These images subsequently appear in Iran,” Zelenskyy said.

He said there was “a clear correlation between Russia’s satellite imagery of these sites and Iranian strikes — both before the attacks, in preparation for them, and afterward, to assess the damage inflicted.”

Moscow has denied or declined to comment on repeated allegations that it is directly assisting Iran’s campaign.