Russia to pick up hundreds of Fath-360 and Ababil ballistic missiles from Iran - August 14, 2024
- Aug 13, 2024
- 2 min read
August 14, 2024
Dozens of Russian soldiers are training in Iran to use the Fath-360 short-range ballistic missile system, two European intelligence sources told Reuters, adding that they expected the imminent delivery of hundreds of satellite-guided weapons to Russia over the war in Ukraine. Representatives of the Russian Defense Ministry are believed to have signed a contract on December 13 in Tehran with Iranian officials for the Fath-360 and another ballistic missile system built by Iran's state-owned Aerospace Industry Organization (AIO) called Ababil, the two intelligence officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said.
Ciching many confidential sources of information, officials said Russian personnel visited Iran to learn how to handle the Fath-360 defense system, which launches missiles with a maximum range of 120 km (75 miles) and which carry a 150 kg head. One of the sources said that the only possible step after training would be the actual delivery of the missiles to Russia. Moscow has its own ballistic missiles, but supplying the Fath-360 could allow Russia to use its arsenal for targets beyond the front line while using Iranian missiles for shorter-range targets, a military expert said.
The White House declined to confirm that Iran was training Russian military personnel in Fath-360 or was preparing to send weapons to Russia for use against Ukraine. A spokesman for the U.S. National Security Council said the United States and its NATO allies and G7 partners were ready to give a quick and rigorous response if Iran proceeds with such transfers. "It would represent a dramatic escalation of Iran's support for Russia's aggressive war against Ukraine," the spokesman said.
The two sources of information did not give a precise timeline for the expected delivery of the Fath-360 missiles to Russia, but said it would be done soon. They did not provide information on the condition of the Ababil missiles contract.
A senior Iranian official, who also spoke on condition of anonymity, said Iran sold missiles and drones to Russia (the known Shahed), but did not provide Fath-360 missiles.
Dystabilizing energy
Until now, Iran's military support for Moscow has been limited mainly to unmanned attack Shahed drones that carry a small amount of explosives and are more easily shot down because they are slower than ballistic missiles.
"Iran's ballistic missiles in Russia would allow further pressure on already over-extensive Ukrainian missile defense systems," said Justin Bronch, Senior Researcher for Air Power at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), a London-based defense think tank.
"As ballistic missile threats, they could only be reliably intercepted by the upper tier of Ukrainian systems," he said, referring to Ukraine's most sophisticated anti-aircraft defenses, such as U.S. Patriot systems and European SAMP/T systems.
Ukraine's Ministry of Defense did not comment immediately. A spokesman for the U.S. National Security Council said Iran's newly-elected President Masund Pezeskian claimed he wanted to mitigate Iran's policies and engage with the world. Destabilizing actions such as this violate this rhetoric.
