The American news site Semafor reported that "Israel and the main Gulf states are pressuring Russia not to send advanced military equipment - including helicopters and fighter jets - to Iran, for fear that its strong alliance will affect the balance of power in the Middle East."
According to the same site, "officials from Israel, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE, with the government of Russian President Vladimir Putin in recent months, have raised their concerns directly," according to what they were quoted as saying by officials in the Middle East and the United States, who were briefed on the discussions. The officials told the site that "leaders in Israel, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE have become more widely interested in the military know-how Iran is acquiring, "by helping Russia wage war in Europe, especially when it comes to carrying out drone strikes."
The tensions come after the Saudis, Emiratis and Israelis have all sought to "maintain relatively strong relations with Moscow" since the start of the Russian war in Ukraine.
The United States accused the Saudis and other Arab oil states of siding with Moscow in the war by agreeing to cut production in the "OPEC +" organization, an accusation denied by the Gulf states.
Likewise, Arab diplomats told Russian officials that "providing Tehran with advanced weapons will not only destabilize the military balance in the Gulf, but will also put Russia firmly on Iran's side in any potential conflict, isolating Moscow from its Arab partners."
They added that they asked Russia "at least" to postpone any arms shipments to Iran, if it "does not agree to cancel them completely."
While those briefed on recent discussions between the Arabs and the Russians said they were "skeptical about the possibility of influencing the Russian president, given his dependence on Iranian aid in a war of central importance to Russia," the Arab diplomats said.
As a high-ranking Arab official briefed on the deliberations said, “I think it will get worse” for Saudi Arabia and “Israel,” considering that “the Russian-Iranian relationship will only get stronger because they now need each other.”
For his part, Norman Roll, who served as the US government's director of national intelligence for Iran from 2008 to 2017, told semafor that, "Iran is also gaining valuable experience by learning how to organize drone strikes against an equipped conventional army." NATO weapons and intelligence systems.
Washington has previously talked about Russia using Iranian war marches in Ukraine, but Moscow and Tehran have repeatedly denied the validity of these allegations.
"The conflict could provide Tehran with important lessons on how to launch imbued attacks against civilian and military targets, and they are likely to be used against Iran's neighbors and US forces," Roll added, referring to tactics designed to overwhelm an adversary's defenses.
According to the "semafor" website, "Tehran and Moscow have developed a close relationship over the past decade," as they cooperated to confront US interests abroad. The alliance was strengthened in Syria, where the two countries merged their military operations to support the Syrian President, Bashar al-Assad, against the fighters of "ISIS" and "Al-Nusra", who received American support.
The United States and its allies, according to the website, also follow closely the movement of Russian and Iranian delegations to each other's capitals, as some discussions focused on the future supply of Iranian ballistic missiles to Russia, according to the American website.
According to "semafor", Iran is seeking, in return, to purchase more advanced weapons systems from Russia, as Iranian state media reported that Tehran expects to obtain dozens of "Sukhoi Su-35" combat aircraft, as well as a group of attack helicopters and other equipment. arms.
A member of the Security and Foreign Policy Committee in the Iranian Parliament, Shahriar Heidari, previously revealed this matter in mid-January.
White House national security spokesman John Kirby told reporters in late February that "the administration will be watching closely to see what transactions are actually taking place, if any."
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