Russia has been delaying the purchase of ballistic missiles from Iran due to fears that the allies will transfer long-range missiles to Ukraine.

The Financial Times reported about this.

Analysts believe that Tehran is open to further military cooperation, but Moscow is holding back.

One of the arguments is the probable transfer to Ukraine of ATACMS missiles with a range of up to 300 km.

Julianne Smith, U.S. Ambassador to NATO, said that Western allies find relations between Russia and Iran “extremely troubling”.

“This situation obviously worries all of us. This is a topic of conversation within the alliance. And we will continue to send signals to Iran about the danger of supporting Russia with material support in its attacks and the war inside Ukraine,” she said.

It is emphasized that such warnings correspond to the actions of the allies at the beginning of the invasion of Ukraine, when an unprecedented amount of secret intelligence was made public. In this way, they tried to prevent and restrain Russia and its potential allies.

At the same time, officials admit that Moscow may change its position on Iranian ballistic missiles. This is due to a shortage of its own ammunition and a drop in domestic production.

According to the estimates of the sources of the publication, the stocks of guided missiles and artillery have halved.

“Russians are in a terrible situation. They need missiles,” said one European official.

It is noted that thanks to Russian technology provided in the 1990s, Iran has created the largest stockpile of ballistic missiles in the Middle East.

In 2019, the US described Iran’s missile program as “increasingly precise” and “sophisticated”.

Now Iran constantly denies supplying weapons to Russia, although it has already used hundreds of Shahed drones to attack the infrastructure of Ukraine.

At the same time, information emerged that Moscow could provide Iran with modern fighter jets and other advanced equipment in exchange for artillery and tank ammunition.

The Pentagon also stated that Russia is interested in Iran’s “ballistic missile potential”.

At the same time, Tehran and Moscow considered the possibility of exchanging modern Russian weapons for ballistic missiles, but these negotiations reached a dead end.

According to Western officials and analysts, this was partly because of the potential consequences of such a deal for both sides.