Russia is providing Iran with targeting information to attack U.S. troops and military assets in the Middle East, an American defense official confirmed to Newsmax on Friday.
First reported by The Washington Post, the development puts one of the United States' chief nuclear-armed competitors in the rapidly expanding conflict.
Iran has, for years, provided Russia with its Shahed drones to attack Ukraine, and now Russian intelligence is returning the favor by aiding Iran in its retaliatory attacks across the Middle East.
The U.S. has sunk at least 30 Iranian ships so far, and War Secretary Pete Hegseth warned Thursday the amount of firepower over Iran soon would surge dramatically.
Adm. Brad Cooper, head of U.S. Central Command, said Thursday that since the first day of the war, Iranian ballistic missile attacks are down 90% and drone attacks have decreased by 83%.
Iran said the U.S. would "bitterly regret" sinking one of its ships with a torpedo this week.
President Donald Trump told NBC News late Thursday in a phone call that he wants to "go in and clean out" the Iranian regime, and he is taking steps to make sure that potential leaders on his list make it through the war alive.
Hegseth told reporters on Monday the war was not a "so-called 'regime change war,'" although he added the regime did change. On Thursday, he told reporters Trump would play a role in Iran's future leadership.
"Ultimately, I think the president's having a heck of a say in who runs Iran, given the ongoing operation we have," Hegseth said.
"So there's no expansion in our objectives. We know exactly what we're trying to achieve."
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has pinned this war on the U.S., telling NBC that the Islamic Republic negotiated with the U.S. administration twice and both times they were attacked in the middle of negotiations.
Hegseth and other administration officials have said the U.S. did not believe Tehran was negotiating with any intention of giving up its path to a nuclear bomb.
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