Russia has provided intelligence to Iran during the U.S.-Israeli war, including satellite imagery showing the locations of warships and military personnel, according to U.S. officials.
The information sharing could complicate relations between the United States and Russia, given that President Trump has often taken a more conciliatory stance toward Moscow than his predecessors.
But some of the officials played down the partnership, saying Russia has long provided similar intelligence to Iran. And it is not clear how much Tehran has been able to use the new intelligence, if at all. Iran has advanced missiles, but they lag far behind Russia’s and it is not clear Iran could use the intelligence to target a ship.
Furthermore, given the immense pressure of the combined U.S.-Israeli assault, which began last Saturday, Iran’s ability to launch missiles has been degraded, officials said.
But officials confirmed that Russia has provided updated intelligence on the position of U.S. assets since the beginning of the war, information meant to help Iran target the assets.
So far Iranian forces have not hit any U.S. warships, but they have struck at U.S. military bases, killing six service members in Kuwait and damaging facilities in Bahrain. Iranian drones have also struck a building housing the C.I.A. station in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, though no one was injured in that attack, officials said.
The Russian intelligence sharing was reported earlier by The Washington Post.
President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia called President Masoud Pezeshkian of Iran on Friday to discuss the U.S.-Israeli campaign. In a statement, the Kremlin said that the two leaders agreed to continue contacts and that Mr. Putin expressed condolences for the death of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the supreme leader.
Mr. Putin also called for hostilities to stop and urged “a swift return to the path” of a diplomatic resolution.
The statement made no direct mention of the intelligence sharing, but said that communication through “various channels” would continue.
In its initial barrage, Iran launched thousands of attack drones and hundreds of missiles at U.S. bases throughout the Middle East. But the Iranian response has begun to lessen, according to the Pentagon, as U.S. bombers place more pressure on Iranian launchers and command and control centers.
As part of a defense partnership, Iran has been a crucial supplier of attack drones to Russia for its war in Ukraine. In return, Russia has supplied technology and intelligence to Iran, according to U.S. officials. Throughout the Biden administration, the White House regularly declassified information about Iranian drone shipments to Russia, as it tried, unsuccessfully, to pressure Tehran to stop supporting its partner.
The U.S. military’s Central Command and the C.I.A. both declined to comment on the classified intelligence sharing. In a statement, Anna Kelly, a White House spokeswoman, noted that the pace of Iranian retaliation had slowed.
“The Iranian regime is being absolutely crushed,” she said. “Their ballistic missile retaliation is decreasing every day, their navy is being wiped out, their production capacity is being demolished and proxies are hardly putting up a fight.”
Julian E. Barnes covers the U.S. intelligence agencies and international security matters for The Times. He has written about security issues for more than two decades.
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