Putin’s support for Iran shows why the US should adopt a more robust approach in its dealings with Moscow
Executive Defence and Foreign Affairs Editor
A leading expert on global conflict, international security and the Middle East. Con worked as a foreign correspondent for 20 years in the Beirut, Jerusalem, New York and Washington bureaux. More recently he covered the conflicts in Iraq, Afghanistan and Ukraine. He is a Senior Visiting Fellow at the War Studies Department, King’s College, London.
Published 29 March 2026
As if President Trump does not have enough on his plate fighting a war against Iran’s ayatollahs, the revelation that Russia has been giving Tehran valuable intelligence also shows that he is fighting a proxy war against Moscow.
It would be an understatement to say that Trump has enjoyed an equivocal relationship with the Russians since returning to the White House last year.
Trump has often given the impression that he clearly favours Russian president Vladimir Putin over his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelensky, in the long-running Ukraine conflict, to the point that there is genuine concern in Europe that Trump is trying to force Kyiv to capitulate to the Kremlin’s territorial demands.
European disquiet about Trump’s intentions towards Ukraine has deepened further after the American leader spent an hour discussing various issues with Putin at the start of the Iran conflict.
While Moscow’s objectives in Ukraine are clear for all to see – the complete annexation of the eastern Donbas region – the Kremlin’s Iranian agenda is less clear-cut. While Moscow and Tehran are signatories to a wide-ranging defence pact, which has resulted in Tehran supporting Russia’s war effort in Ukraine with ballistic missiles and drones, Putin’s attitude towards the ayatollahs remains ambivalent, especially regarding their nuclear ambitions.
Having signed the nuclear deal negotiated by the Obama administration to limit Iran’s nuclear ambitions, Putin has remained a strong advocate of maintaining restrictions on Iran’s nuclear programme.
Moreover, Putin’s failure to provide Iran with military support during last year’s joint US-Israel war with Iran, where the US primarily concentrated its efforts on destroying Iran’s nuclear infrastructure, suggested that Moscow’s alliance with Iran was driven more by opportunism than a genuine interest in forging closer ties.
And it is Putin’s desire to exploit any and every opportunity for his own benefit that explains why Russia is now providing Tehran with valuable intelligence that can be used to target American bases as well as Washington’s Gulf allies.
With the joint US-Israeli military assault against Iran reaching a critical juncture, Putin is no doubt calculating that, by providing Tehran with information, he can help turn the tide of the conflict to Moscow’s advantage.
If the Iranian regime were to defy expectations and survive the war, then Russia would claim that this showed that, despite America’s overwhelming military might, the Americans cannot dictate the international agenda. This would free the way for Putin to continue pursuing his maximalist demands in the Ukraine war.
Reports were already circulating in US intelligence circles after Trump launched Operation Epic Fury at the end of last month that the Russians were providing Iran with intelligence about the locations and movements of American troops, ships and aircraft. Much of this has come from imagery produced by Moscow’s sophisticated constellation of overhead satellites.
Now details have emerged claiming that Moscow was directly involved in helping to plan an Iranian missile-and-drone attack on a US military base in Saudi Arabia which succeeded in destroying a £370m E-3 Sentry radar plane, as well as a number of refuelling aircraft, making it one of the most successful attacks Iran has carried out against the US since the war began. At least 15 US troops were wounded in the attack.
According to Zelensky, the attack took place after Kremlin satellites had photographed the Saudis’ Prince Sultan Air Base in Al Kharj on three occasions. The Ukrainian leader insists that Russian intelligence was behind Iran’s successful attack against American soldiers in the region.
Russia’s tangible support for Iran in its war with the US and Israel certainly adds an important new dimension to the conflict, one that Trump would be well-advised to consider carefully as he plots the next phase of his offensive in Iran.
Trump has previously adopted a zero-tolerance policy to attacks against US forces in the Middle East, launching a series of airstrikes against Islamic State terror bases in the region after the Islamist group killed three Americans in Syria at the end of last year. At the very least Trump will therefore be under pressure to adopt a more confrontational stance with Moscow.
For, irrespective of Trump’s personal regard for Putin, it is clearly evident that the Russian leader is now involved in fighting a proxy war against the US, one that seeks to deny the Trump administration its ultimate goal of inflicting a devastating defeat on Iran’s ayatollahs.
Rather than trying to maintain the fruitless dialogue he has pursued with Putin this past year, which has achieved the sum total of nothing, Trump should understand that the Russian leader has no interest in reaching a rapprochement with Washington.
With this in mind, the US should adopt a more robust approach in its dealings with Moscow, whether this involves providing Ukraine with more military support in its war against Russia, or making sure that Russia’s hostile support for Iran does not derail America’s plans to achieve a decisive victory.
Comment from :
Leslie Ayre
How Iran destroyed US base’s $500m battlefield nerve centre.
When I read this earlier I thought……” Well Don, you still think Vald is your friend?”
John Polenski
This week alone:
Trump refused to condemn Russia for aiding Iran.
American legislators welcomed sanctioned Russian MPs to Congress.
US reinforced its demand that Ukraine hand over the whole of the Donbas to Russia to end the war, without which there will be no (meaningless) security guarantees.
US appears to be diverting weapons meanr for Ukraine to the Middle East, despite them already having been paid for.
Rubio, perhaps Ukraine’s last friend in the White House entourage, accused Zelensky of lying.
And one of the Telegraph’s chief security correspondents, who crowed for much of last year that Trump was finally “getting tough on Putin”, and since that never happened, (and hoping you won’t remember) is now still calling plaintively for Trump to “get tough on Putin”. Thereby demonstrating either a continuing schoolboy naive level of misunderstanding of the relationship between Trump and the Russian dictator whose picture of the two of them together he has had hung on the walls of the White House; or, otherwise, an advanced case of brain rot.
Ian Carmichael
Absolutely right that the US needs to see Russia as the enemy, although Trump is in Putin’s pocket for some reason. Unpaid loans perhaps?
If he wants the history books to describe him as anything other than a traitor he needs to sharpen his support for Ukraine and stop helping Russia to see oil.
Rupert Law
It’s quite simple, the US should ramp up its intelligence and allow any weapon the Ukrainians want allowing them to hit Russia further and often until they back off Iran.
Clem H Fandango
It’s almost as if Pootin has some sort of hold over the Chump. Something like videos of the orange buffoon enjoying some ‘personal time’ with ladies of negotiable virtue. What else could possibly explain his actions in relation to Russia and Pootin? Kompromat appears to be more valuable than all the gold in the world.
Smart Scot
All well and good but fails to acknowledge the reality – Putin has Kompromat on Trump from years ago and consequently has complete control of him. Trump is perfectly happy to create complete global meltdown (Ukrain and Iran) rather than allow Putin to release the dodgy photos – or allow people to concentrate on the Epstein files. USA needs to do some serious souk searching as they have become more of a pariah state than the world has witnessed for over a century. Trump will go down in history as one of the world’s most evil dictators.
Name Withheld
We in Britain should be operating unilaterally against the Russian Federation at every opportunity they present us with. We should lock Russians out of the uk; seize their finances and property and deport them. Let’s allow our American allies to protect themselves the way they see it best to do so. I’m so angry that the PM didn’t give the US our assistance, but that doesn’t mean HM Gov won’t continue to support Ukraine defending Europe.
Vicki Lester
Trump affects a long term friendship with Putin. Many suggest the influence of the latter to be of a more sinister basis.
What is plain is that Russia has enabled American assets to be directly targeted by Iran. Washington can return the compliment by untying Kyiv’s hands as regards kit then have until not been restricted as to use.