- US and UK express concern over Russia-Iran nuclear and missile trade
- Tehran and Moscow expand military cooperation amidst Ukraine war
- Russia allegedly shares nuclear tech with Iran in missile exchange
Britain and the United States have expressed concern that Russia has traded nuclear secrets with Iran in exchange for Tehran providing Moscow with ballistic missiles to destroy Ukraine.
During their visit in Washington, DC, on Friday, Keir Starmer and US President Joe Biden recognized that the two countries were expanding military cooperation at a time when Iran was enriching enough uranium to complete its long-standing objective of building a nuclear weapon.
British officials have expressed concerns about Iran’s nuclear technology trade, which is a growing partnership between Tehran and Moscow.
On Tuesday last week, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken issued a similar warning when visiting London for a session with his British counterpart, David Lammy, but it garnered little attention because the spotlight was on the US announcement of Iran’s missile supply to Moscow.
For its part, Russia is sharing technology that Iran seeks—this is a two-way street—including on nuclear issues as well as some space information,” Blinken added, accusing the two countries of engaging in destabilizing operations that sow “even greater insecurity” worldwide.
Last week, Britain, France, and Germany issued a combined warning that Iran’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium had “continued to grow significantly, without any credible civilian justification,” and that it had gathered four “significant quantities” that could each be used to create a nuclear bomb.
However, it is unclear how much technological know-how Tehran now has or how quickly it could manufacture a nuclear bomb. Working with seasoned Russian professionals or utilizing Russian information might help accelerate the manufacturing process, while Iran maintains that it is attempting to build a nuclear bomb.
Iran agreed in 2015 to halt nuclear weapons production in exchange for relief from sanctions from the US and other Western nations, but then-US President and current Republican contender Donald Trump abandoned the agreement in 2018.
Iran replied by exceeding agreed-upon restrictions on the amount of enriched uranium it could store.
Western concerns that Iran is on the verge of developing a nuclear weapon have been circulating for months, adding to Middle East tensions, which are already high due to Israel’s ongoing assault on Hamas and Gaza.
Iran and its proxy in Lebanon, Hezbollah, back Hamas; therefore, Jerusalem views Tehran’s nuclear development as a direct danger.
Soon after Vladimir Putin launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Iran began supplying Moscow with Shahed delta winged drones and assisting Russia in the construction of a facility to produce more bomb targets around Ukraine. With the assistance of the United States and the United Kingdom, Iran conducted a Russian-style missile and drone strike on Israel in April of this year.
Russia and Iran, though not traditionally partners, have become increasingly united in their antagonism to the West as part of a larger “axis of upheaval” that includes, to differing degrees, China and North Korea, marking a return to a period of state competition reminiscent of the Cold War.
Last week in London, Blinken stated that US intelligence had decided that the first batch of high-speed Iranian Fath-360 ballistic missiles, with a range of up to 75 miles (120 kilometers), had reached Russia.
The missiles, which are capable of striking already-bombed frontline Ukrainian cities, provoked a significant shift in Western thinking as well as new economic measures.
Starmer flew to Washington late Thursday to attend a special foreign policy summit with Biden at the White House on Friday, which began with a brief one-on-one in the outgoing president’s Oval Office and continued with a 70-minute meeting with both sides’ top foreign policy teams in the residence’s Blue Room.
The presidents and their advisors discussed the Ukraine conflict, the Middle East problem, Iran, and the increasing competition with China.
While Blinken and Jake Sullivan, the US national security adviser, attended Biden, Starmer brought Lammy, Downing Street’s chief of staff Sue Gray, and the UK’s national security adviser Tim Barrow.
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Prior to the summit, UK sources said the two nations had agreed in principle to let Ukraine launch long-range Anglo-French Storm Shadow missiles into Russia for the first time. However, Biden appeared to hint that the topic was one of the reasons for the face-to-face, telling reporters, “We’re going to discuss that now,” as the meeting began.
There was no update following the meeting, possibly to keep the Kremlin guessing. Any use of the missiles is believed to be part of Ukraine’s larger battle plan, which includes targeting airbases, missile launch sites, and other locations where Russia bombs Ukraine.
Because the missiles contain US-made components, Britain requires authorization from the White House to allow Ukraine to use them in Russia.
According to protocol, Biden and Starmer, the only two present without printed-out name cards, did the majority of the talking, with the other politicians and officials speaking only when introduced by the president or prime minister.
Starmer invited Lammy to provide an update on his and Blinken’s journey to Kyiv on Thursday to meet with Ukraine’s President, Volodymyr Zelenskiy.
Shortly after the meeting, Starmer stated that the two parties had “a wide-ranging discussion about strategy.”
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