Russia’s top security official, Sergei Shoigu, arrived in Iran on Tuesday for talks with the Iranian foreign minister, just a day after reports emerged of growing concerns from the United States and Britain about the alleged nuclear deal between Tehran and Moscow.
Details of Shoigu’s meetings in Iran are unclear, but U.S. officials have begun sounding the alarm that tense relations between Iran and Russia amid the Ukraine war may have reached a worrying new level.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken first addressed those concerns during a visit to Britain last week, acknowledging reports that Iran had supplied Russia with short-range ballistic missiles to help Moscow continue its war against Kiev.
Secretary-General of the Security Council Sergey Shoigu, in St. Petersburg, Russia, September 12, 2024. (Sputnik/Kristina Kormilitsina/Kremlin via Reuters)
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But in comments that drew little attention following confirmation that the ballistic missiles had been delivered to Moscow, Blinken also said “Russia is sharing technology that Iran is seeking. This is a two-way effort, and that includes nuclear issues and space intelligence.”
The Guardian reported on Monday that President Biden and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer discussed the possibility of a secret deal being struck in which Russia would agree to provide Iran with the technical know-how it needs to develop a nuclear weapon.
Nuclear experts, including from the United Nations watchdog the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), have warned that Iran has been advancing its nuclear program unchecked over the past three and a half years.
Iran is said to have increased its stockpile of highly enriched uranium to a level of 60% purity, just shy of 90% weapons-grade uranium.
Details about Shoigu’s talks on Tuesday were unclear, but his visit comes just days after he visited fellow nuclear power North Korea and met with leader Kim Jong Un in Pyongyang.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un meets with a delegation led by Sergei Shoigu in a photo released by North Korea’s state-run Korean Central News Agency on September 14, 2024. (KCNA via Reuters)
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Details of the visit were also unclear, but reports said Shoigu’s visit was an opportunity to deepen cooperation between Russia and North Korea following the signing of a mutual defence treaty in June this year.
Western countries have accused North Korea of ​​supplying weapons to Russia to support the war in Ukraine, raising concerns that Pyongyang could escalate its military supplies to Russia.
The United States and its Western allies have vowed to hold accountable those countries that backed Russia in its illegal war in Ukraine, but Shoigu’s visit with a major adversary coincided with threats issued by Putin towards Washington last week.
Neither the United States nor Britain has lifted bans on Ukraine-supplied long-range weapons that would enable Kiev to strike deep into Russia, a move they say is essential to ending the war with Moscow.
Commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps Aerospace Forces, Gen. Amir Ali Hajizadeh, spoke at the unveiling of Iran’s first hypersonic ballistic missile in Tehran on June 6, 2023. (Sepah News/Handout/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
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But Putin said last week that any move by the United States and its NATO allies to lift those bans on attacks would be seen as direct U.S. involvement in the conflict and would mean “war” with Russia, potentially spreading the threat of Russian attacks outside Ukraine.
Putin has made such threats against Western countries before, but no lifting of the ban on attacks was announced at last week’s summit between Biden and Starmer.
Reuters contributed to this report.
