US Sources: Iran sends hundreds of powerful ballistic missiles to Russia in a move that strengthens military cooperation between the two countries

US sources said that Iran has supplied Russia with a large number of powerful surface-to-surface ballistic missiles, in a move that strengthens military cooperation between the two countries subject to US sanctions.

Three Iranian sources reported that Tehran provided about 400 missiles, including several short-range ballistic missiles from the Fateh-110 family, such as the Zulfiqar missile.

Experts say that this mobile missile is capable of hitting targets at distances ranging between 300 and 700 kilometers.

The Iranian Ministry of Defense and the Revolutionary Guard, the elite force that oversees Iran’s ballistic missile program, declined to comment.

The Russian Ministry of Defense hasn’t yet responded to a request for comment.

One Iranian source said the shipments began in early January after the agreement was concluded in meetings held late last year between Iranian and Russian military and security officials in Tehran and Moscow.

An Iranian military official, who like other sources requested anonymity due to the sensitivity of the information, said there had been at least four shipments of missiles and there would be more in the coming weeks.

Another senior Iranian official said that some of the missiles were sent to Russia by ship across the Caspian Sea, while others were transported by air.

An Iranian official said, “There will be more shipments… There is no reason to hide it… We can export weapons to any country we want”.

UN Security Council restrictions on Iran’s exports of some missiles, drones and other technology expired in October.

However, the United States and the European Union maintained sanctions on Iran’s ballistic missile program amid concerns about arms exports to its Middle Eastern proxies and Russia.

Another source confirmed that Russia had received a large number of missiles from Iran recently, without providing further details.

White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said in early January that the United States was concerned that Moscow was close to obtaining short-range ballistic missiles from Tehran in addition to the missiles it had already obtained from North Korea.

According to US official, Washington had seen evidence that the talks were progressing actively, but there was no indication yet that shipments had been delivered.

The Pentagon has not yet responded to a request for comment on the delivery of the missiles.

Ukraine’s prosecutor general said on Friday that ballistic missiles supplied by North Korea to Russia had proven unreliable on the battlefield, with only two of 24 missiles hitting their targets. Moscow and Pyongyang denied that North Korea supplied Russia with munitions used in Ukraine.

By contrast, Jeffrey Lewis, an expert at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies in Monterey, said the Fateh-110 family of missiles and Zulfiqar missiles are precision weapons.

“They are used to target objects of high value that require precise hits,” Lewis added, adding that 400 munitions could cause serious damage. But he pointed out that the Russian bombing is indeed “very brutal”.