Multiple reports on Monday and Tuesday indicated that Iranian officials asked Russian allies to supply them with advanced air defense systems — which may already be en route to Tehran — in anticipation of the rogue terror state’s attack on Israel.
Former Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, now serving as a Russian Security Council secretary, visited Iran on Monday to meet with several top officials, including President Masoud Pezeshkian. Shoigu confirmed to Russian media that he discussed the ongoing fears of a broader war erupting in the Middle East in the aftermath of the death of Hamas “political” leader Ismail Haniyeh on July 31 in Tehran.
“Of course, the recent tragic events that took place in Tehran were touched upon. It was impossible to bypass this topic,” Shoigu said, referring to the death of one of the world’s most notorious terror leaders.
Iranians follow a truck carrying the coffins of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh and his bodyguard, who were killed in an assassination blamed on Israel on Wednesday, during their funeral ceremony at Enqelab-e-Eslami (Islamic Revolution) Sq. in Tehran, Iran, on August 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
In addition to Pezeshkian, Shoigu met with “the secretary of the country’s Supreme National Security Council Ali Akbar Ahmadian and Chief of the General Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces Mohammad Bagheri,” according to the Russian news agency Tass.
Multiple Iranian outlets reported on Monday that, as part of the discussions, Iran asked Russian officials for advanced air defense gear. The left-wing American New York Times newspaper later claimed, citing anonymous Iranian officials, that the equipment in question was already on its way to Iran.
“Two Iranian officials familiar with the war planning, one a member of the Revolutionary Guards Corps, confirmed that Iran has made the request and said Russia has started delivering advanced radars and air-defense equipment,” the Times reported.
Neither Russian nor Iranian English-language media reported on the alleged deliveries as of Tuesday, and is it unclear exactly what equipment the Iranians are allegedly receiving. The Times of Israel reported that Iran already possesses “some Russian-made S-300 air defense systems, though Moscow now has the more advanced S-400 system.”
Iranian and Russian outlets emphasized the desire of both the Kremlin and the Islamic regime to expand their diplomatic relationship, which is already extremely close. Russia and Iran regularly support each other’s interests on the international stage, resulting in Iran vocally defending Russia’s ongoing full-scale invasion of Ukraine and Moscow giving audiences to top Hamas terrorists, such as Haniyeh.
“The range of cooperation is very wide; moreover, cooperation is growing rapidly in all areas,” Shoigu told Rossiya-24 TV on Tuesday. “At a meeting with Iran’s newly-elected president and Security Council secretary, we discussed the entire range of issues.”
“The Islamic Republic of Iran is in no way seeking to expand the scope of war and crisis in the region, but certainly this (Zionist) regime will receive a response for its crimes and audacity,” Pezeshkian reportedly told Shoigu, according to the Iranian Tasnim News Agency.
Iranian officials have been threatening to unleash their “holy wrath” on Israel since the death of Hamas “political” chief Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran on July 31. Haniyeh was in Iran to attend the inauguration of President Pezeshkian and met with senior Iranian leaders, including “supreme leader” Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, hours before an explosion in his temporary lodging killed him and a bodyguard. The New York Times reported shortly after the incident that the explosion that killed Haniyeh was caused by a bomb that someone smuggled into the building months before the assassination, but Iranian officials have refuted the claim, insisting an airstrike was responsible.
The Iranian regime blamed the government of Israel, in conjunction with the United States, for Haniyeh’s killing. Israel has not taken responsibility for the attack, while the government of leftist President Joe Biden denied having any involvement or prior knowledge. Biden himself appeared to condemn the elimination of one of Hamas’s top leaders, telling reporters it “has not helped” the White House’s goal of getting Israel and Hamas to agree to a ceasefire in Gaza.
WATCH: Biden Says Killing of Hamas Leader “Has Not Helped”
C-SPANThe Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have been conducting a self-defense operation in Gaza, which Hamas controls, since October 7, 2023, when Hamas terrorists invaded Israel and slaughtered 1,200 people. The Hamas attack, unprecedented in modern Israeli history, also resulted in the abduction of dozens of people, more than 100 of whom remain in captivity, and documented acts of desecration, torture, gang rape, infanticide, and other atrocities.
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Joel B. Pollak / Breitbart NewsIran is believed to be a top funder of Hamas. The State Department estimated in 2018 that the Iranian government spends $100 million funding Hamas and another terrorist group in the region, Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ).
Hamas has also maintained friendly relations with Russia, though the government of strongman Vladimir Putin claims to staunchly oppose radical Islamic terrorism. Moscow was one of the first places to welcome a Hamas delegation after October 7, a move the Israeli government described as “an obscene step that gives support to terrorism and legitimizes the atrocities of Hamas terrorists.”
In February, Russia welcomed Hamas terrorists again, this time to a summit with more than a dozen factions of anti-Israeli Palestinian groups, including Hamas and PIJ, apparently intended to de-toxify those terrorist organizations in the face of other, overtly more moderate groups.
