Tehran Denies Sending Ballistic Missiles to Russia

Welcome back to World Brief, where we’re looking at Iran allegedly sending arms to Russia, Mexico’s push for controversial judicial reform, and the biggest foreign-policy issues in last night’s U.S. presidential debate.

Sign up to receive World Brief in your inbox every weekday.

Who Is Backing Russia’s War Machine?

Senior Iranian officials denied allegations on Wednesday that Tehran has sent short-range ballistic missiles to Russia to aid its war effort against Ukraine. The United States and its allies are acting on “faulty intelligence and flawed logic,” Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said, with Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Nasser Kanaani calling the claims “completely baseless and false.”

On Tuesday, the U.S. Treasury Department accused Iran and Russia of signing a contract in late 2023 for the supply of “hundreds” of missiles to Moscow. And on Wednesday, CNN published satellite imagery showing a Russian cargo ship suspected of carrying Iranian ballistic missiles at a Russian port on the Caspian Sea last week. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the Kremlin will likely use the new shipments against Kyiv within the next few weeks. Experts believe that the deliveries will allow Russia to reserve its own missile stocks for longer-range strikes.

Until now, it has been widely believed that Tehran has supplied Moscow with Shahed drones—even helping to set up a drone production factory in Russia. Blinken added on Tuesday that “dozens” of Russian military personnel have received training in Iran on how to use Fath-360 missiles, which have a range of around 75 miles and could help Moscow strike farther inside Ukrainian territory. U.S. President Joe Biden has so far barred Ukraine from using U.S.-supplied long-range missile systems against targets deep in Russian territory out of fear of escalation and a more direct U.S. confrontation with Moscow.

The United States—as well as the United Kingdom, France, and Germany—announced new sanctions on Iran following Blinken’s announcement. They include European sanctions on Iran Air, the country’s main commercial airline, and other entities and individuals suspected of being tied to missile deliveries. Kanaani called the sanctions “economic terrorism” against the Iranian people and vowed to respond with “appropriate and proportionate action.” Iran is one of the most heavily sanctioned countries in the world.

Some analysts hoped that the recent election of Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, a moderate who has advocated for detente with the West, would simmer down tensions with Washington. But in his less than two months in power, Pezeshkian has so far hewed closely to the status quo.

On Wednesday, Pezeshkian visited Iraq for his first foreign trip since taking office. While there, he signed 14 cooperation memorandums with Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani on issues varying from trade and security to agriculture and sports. Pezeshkian also took the opportunity to lambast Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza and push Iraq to more closely align with some of Tehran’s long-term objectives, such as moving forward on negotiations to withdraw all of the roughly 2,500 U.S. troops stationed in Iraq.

Iran is not the only country accused of supplying Russia with military aid. U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell accused China on Tuesday of providing Moscow with “very substantial” military help in exchange for military tech on submarines and missiles. China has denied such claims in the past, saying that it maintains an impartial stance on the war.

The news came as Russia kicked off massive military drills in the Pacific Ocean on Tuesday that included Chinese joint maneuvers. “We pay special attention to strengthening military cooperation with friendly states,” Russian President Vladimir Putin said. “Today, in the context of growing geopolitical tensions in the world, this is especially important.”

Today’s Most Read

What We’re Following

Constitutional battle. The Mexican Senate approved controversial judicial reforms championed by outgoing President Andrés Manuel López Obrador on Wednesday with a vote of 86 to 41—barely clearing the two-thirds hurdle needed to pass the legislation. Under the policy, nearly all judges must be elected by popular vote. López Obrador and his ruling leftist Morena party argue that the reforms are necessary to address corruption in the judiciary.

“The regime of corruption and privileges each day is being left farther in the past and a true democracy and true rule of law are being built,” President-elect Claudia Sheinbaum, also of the Morena party and a protégé of López Obrador, wrote on X.

However, rights activists worry that the legislation could make judges vulnerable to influence from powerful local figures, such as members of organized crime, as well as effectively allow Morena to take control of all three branches of government.

Hundreds of protesters stormed the country’s parliament building on Tuesday, disrupting the Senate’s session and forcing legislators to hold the vote in two parts. This was the second time that demonstrators seized the premises to try to stop the vote; Mexico’s lower house was forced to confirm the legislation in a local gymnasium last Wednesday after protesters blocked the entrance to the congressional building.

The legislation must now be ratified by at least 17 of Mexico’s 32 states, which experts predict will likely occur, as the Morena party holds power across most of the country. Already, Oaxaca’s legislature has ratified the vote.

Harris versus Trump. U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris and former U.S. President Donald Trump took the stage last night for their first—and perhaps only—presidential debate. The two candidates criticized each other’s records and laid out their (at times vague) policy proposals ahead of the Nov. 5 election.

Among the foreign-policy highlights:

China: The two candidates argued about Trump’s trade war against Beijing and his pledges to raise tariffs even higher, with Harris warning that such actions would drive up inflation. Trump countered that if the tariffs he’d put on China during his presidency were so bad, then the Biden administration shouldn’t have continued them, which it largely has.
Ukraine: Trump deflected a question asking if he wants Ukraine to win the war against Russia, vowing instead to get the conflict “settled” without specifying how. He also reiterated his claim that the war would never have happened had he been in the White House because Putin and other world leaders respect and fear him. Harris said world leaders are “laughing” at Trump and that U.S. military leaders she’s spoken to, including some who served under him, believe the former president is a “disgrace.” Harris highlighted the Biden administration’s support for Ukraine and her personal role in delivering critical intelligence to the country in the days before Russia’s invasion.
Israel-Hamas: Harris reiterated Israel’s right to defend itself while stressing the need for a two-state solution that allows for Palestinians to have self-determination. Trump accused Harris of hating both Israel and Arabs and said that if she is elected, Israel will not exist in two years. He offered no details about how he would negotiate with Israel and Hamas to end the war, instead stating that it would never have happened in the first place had he been in office.

Yagi death toll rises. Thousands of Vietnamese evacuated the capital of Hanoi on Wednesday to escape major flooding along the Red River, whose waters have reached a 20-year high. Typhoon Yagi has killed at least 179 people and injured more than 700 others since it made landfall on Saturday. Scientists report that Yagi, which has been downgraded to a tropical depression, is Asia’s worst storm so far this year.

High floodwaters have sparked landslides and bridge collapses, with the most casualties documented in the northwestern Lao Cai Province. Nearly 18,000 homes have been destroyed, and many people across the country lack electricity. More than 4,600 soldiers have been deployed to assist search and rescue efforts and support victims. Government officials estimate that the storm’s damage could cost more than $12 million.

Odds and Ends

A Swiss city councilor may be rethinking her PR strategy after posting images on Instagram showing a bullet-ridden auction poster of a 14th-century Madonna and child painting. Green-Liberal official Sanija Ameti has since apologized for shooting the religious symbol with a sports pistol, explaining that she simply chose the poster because it was “big enough” to use for target practice and adding that she hadn’t considered its religious content. She removed the post and has resigned from party leadership. But in a country where the majority of citizens are Christian, the damage may already be done.

The post Tehran Denies Sending Ballistic Missiles to Russia appeared first on Foreign Policy.