Media Has Learned Of A Secret Deal Between Iran And Russia

• 26.03.2026, 12:15

They agreed on the first day of the war.

Russia began supplying Iran with attack drones days after the US and Israel attacked the Islamic republic. This follows from Western intelligence reports, which Financial Times has familiarized itself with.

According to the intelligence, Moscow and Tehran secretly agreed on the deliveries in the first days of the military conflict, and by the end of March the delivery of the last batches is expected to be completed. At the same time, it is not known how many devices Iran will receive in total. There is also no exact data on the type of drones that Moscow has agreed to send to Tehran. One of the FT's interlocutors in Western intelligence suggested that they are Geran-2 drones, which Russia is producing based on Iran's Shahed-136.

"The Russians have significantly improved the Shaheds, including modifications to the engines, navigation systems and jamming defenses. So these systems are already more advanced than what Iran was producing domestically," said Nicole Grajewski, a professor at Sciences Po University who studies relations between Russia and Iran. Also, according to Western intelligence reports, Tehran has asked Moscow to provide more advanced air defense (air defense) systems, but the Russian side refused to supply S-400s for fear of escalation in relations with the United States, the FT interlocutors noted.