Iran Has Joined the War Against Ukraine
For the first time since Darius the Great — whose Persian Empire stretched into parts of what is present day Bulgaria, Romania, and Ukraine — Iran has troops on the ground on the European continent.
Members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps are providing Russia with on-the-ground, hands-on weapons support in occupied Crimea, and possibly Belarus.
For the last few months, Iran has been supplying Russia with Iranian-made Shahed-131 and 136 suicide drones — drones which have killed Ukrainians.
This prompted NATO shipments of signal jammers to Ukraine last week.
Since Russia has nearly depleted its stock of precision munitions, it is now turning to Iran to provide not only drones, but soon, ballistic missiles.
Ballistic missiles pose a much greater threat to Ukraine’s fledgling missile defense systems.
If Russia can get its hands on advanced munitions, courtesy of Iran, this war could drag on well into 2023 and beyond.
But this development prompts a far more troubling question:
What is Iran getting in return for its support of Russia?
The two countries have no deep, ideological bond.
