U.S. intelligence reports say Russia passed Iran information that could help Tehran target American military assets across the Middle East.
Officials told The Associated Press there is no indication Moscow is directly ordering Tehran how to use the material, but the disclosure is the clearest sign yet that Russia may be assisting Iran.
The report comes as U.S. and Israeli forces continue striking Iranian targets while Tehran keeps launching retaliatory attacks against American positions and U.S. partners in the Gulf.
The White House says the United States is “well on its way” toward controlling Iranian airspace and expects core military objectives could be completed within four to six weeks.
President Donald Trump has taken a harder public line, demanding Iran’s “unconditional surrender” as the campaign moves deeper into its second week.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt downplayed the Russia-Iran intelligence revelation when pressed by reporters and said, “It clearly is not making any difference with respect to the military operations in Iran because we are completely decimating them.”
Leavitt declined to say whether Trump had discussed the matter with Russian President Vladimir Putin or whether the administration was weighing consequences for Moscow.
She also told reporters that when asked whether the revelation had damaged Trump’s confidence in Putin’s ability to help broker peace in Ukraine, she maintained that peace between Russia and Ukraine remains possible.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Iran had not asked Russia for military assistance while also confirming Moscow remains in active contact with Iranian leadership.
When asked directly whether Russia had offered military or intelligence help since the war began, Peskov declined to answer, according to the report.
Peskov said, “We are in dialogue with the Iranian side, with representatives of the Iranian leadership, and will certainly continue this dialogue.”
The two countries have grown closer in recent years after Moscow turned to Tehran for drones and missiles to sustain its war effort in Ukraine.
U.S. officials previously declassified intelligence showing Iran supplied Russia with attack drones and helped build drone manufacturing capacity, and the prior administration also accused Tehran of transferring short-range ballistic missiles to the Kremlin.
That alleged intelligence-sharing would fit a pattern of military cooperation between the two anti-Western powers.
The battlefield picture inside Iran is growing darker, and Reuters reported that Iran’s U.N. ambassador said at least 1,332 civilians have been killed so far in the war.
Separate reporting from Al Jazeera described especially heavy bombardment in Tehran with residential areas and other civilian sites reportedly among the locations hit, and Israeli strikes also hit Lebanon as the campaign spilled farther across the region.
