Updated on: March 28, 2026 / 4:16 PM EDT / CBS News
European allies are publicly and privately telling American diplomats that Russia is directly and materially helping Iran’s war efforts beyond what the U.S. will publicly acknowledge, sources tell CBS News. The Europeans also argue that the war in Ukraine, the largest land war in Europe since World War II, is intertwined with the war in Iran because of Russia‑Iran cooperation.
A U.K. official told CBS News that Russian‑Iranian defense cooperation has ballooned in recent years, and Iranian technological advancement is now visible in attacks in the Middle East. The United Kingdom assesses that Iran had not only transferred Shahed drones to Moscow for use on the battlefield in Ukraine but also production know‑how to Russia, which has helped Iran refine its drone warfare. The U.K. official could not confirm a recent transfer of hardware to Iran by Russia.
France’s Foreign Minister Jean‑Noël Barrot publicly described the relationship between Russia and Iran as “two‑way cooperation.” “There are reasons to believe that Russia is now supporting Iran’s military efforts, which appear to be directed in particular at American targets,” Barrot said.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said this week that his country had “irrefutable evidence” that the Russians are providing signals intelligence and electronic intelligence capabilities to the Iranian regime. He said an intelligence briefing showed that U.S. military facilities in the Middle East and the Gulf region were “photographed by Russian satellites in the interests of Iran.” Zelenskyy said Russia’s satellites captured images of the U.S.-U.K. joint military facility on Diego Garcia, Kuwait International Airport, the Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia and locations in Turkey and Qatar.
Following the G7 meeting in France, Secretary of State Marco Rubio downplayed cooperation between Iran and Russia. “There is nothing Russia is doing for Iran that is in any way impeding or affecting our operation or the effectiveness of it. That’s the best way that I could put it,” Rubio told reporters.
On Saturday, Zelenskyy visited the United Arab Emirates, which has close ties to Russia, offering the UAE Ukraine’s unique anti‑drone technology for defensive purposes as Gulf states hosting U.S. bases have become targets of Iran.
Multiple sources, including a senior U.S. official with direct knowledge, told CBS News in March that Russia is providing intelligence to Iran regarding U.S. positions in the Middle East. The European Union’s top diplomat said Thursday that Russia is providing intelligence support to Iran to “kill Americans.”
“We see that Russia is helping Iran with intelligence to target Americans, to kill Americans, and Russia is also supporting Iran now with the drones so that they can attack neighboring countries and also U.S. military bases,” Kaja Kallas told G7 leaders.
U.K. Secretary of Defense John Healey told CBS News partner BBC News that he sees the “hidden hand of Putin” behind Iran’s war effort.
When asked about reports of Russia sharing intelligence with Iran, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told “60 Minutes” that President Trump was “well aware of who’s talking to who” and said that “anything that shouldn’t be happening … is being confronted and confronted strongly.”
U.S. intelligence publicly disclosed this month that there is “selective cooperation” among China, Russia, Iran and North Korea, driven by a common goal of “balancing U.S. efforts and actions,” but found it was short of “adversary alignment” of interests. The worldwide threat assessment by the U.S. Director of National Intelligence concluded that the four countries share concerns about directly confronting the U.S., which constrains the scope of their relationships.
Meanwhile, there is high demand among Israel, Gulf allies and Ukraine to buy the U.S.‑made interceptors used to take down incoming missiles. Rubio argued that the U.S. sale and allocation of defensive equipment to Ukraine has not been negatively impacted by the need for interceptors in the Middle East. He said the NATO mechanism to purchase that weaponry has been unaffected but acknowledged the U.S. may redirect weaponry in the future.
“If we need something for America and it’s American, we’re going to keep it for America first. But as of now, that has not happened,” Rubio said.
In: Iran; Russia
