Washington, US

The US and the UK are worried that Russia may have shared nuclear secrets with Iran in return for the latest reports claiming that Tehran had supplied ballistics missiles to Moscow in its war against Ukraine. 

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President Joe Biden and UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, during their meeting in Washington DC, acknowledged that Moscow and Tehran were tightening military cooperation with the latter in the process of enriching enough uranium to complete its long-held goal of developing a nuclear bomb. 

A similar sentiment was shared by US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, during a meeting with his UK counterpart, David Lammy. 

“For its part, Russia is sharing technology that Iran seeks – this is a two-way street – including on nuclear issues as well as some space information,” Blinken said. 

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Notably, Iran struck a deal in 2015 to stop making nuclear weapons in exchange for relief from the crushing sanctions. However, the agreement was abandoned in 2018 by the then-US president, Donald Trump. 

Since then, Tehran has breached agreed limits on the quantity of enriched uranium it can hold with Western countries wary that it was close to developing the ultimate weapon. 

Watch | Iran transfers ballistic missiles to Russia amid war with Ukraine

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Has Iran sent missiles?

The European Union as well as the US had levelled the allegations last week with the former claiming that it was considering fresh sanctions on Tehran if it was confirmed that Russia received the said missiles. 

"We are looking further into it with our member states and if confirmed, this delivery would represent a substantive material escalation in Iran's support for Russia's illegal war of aggression against Ukraine," EU spokesman Peter Stano said.

Moscow did not issue a denial when asked about the allegations and instead preferred to comment on the growing relationship with Tehran. 

"We have seen this report, it is not every time that this kind of information is true," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

"Iran is our important partner, we are developing our trade and economic relations, we are developing our cooperation and dialogue in all possible areas, including the most sensitive areas."

Also read | After Putin, Italy’s Meloni says India can help resolve Russia-Ukraine conflict

Facing suffocating Western sanctions, Moscow has turned towards North Korea and Iran for weapon supplies to keep the war going against Ukraine. While Kim Jong Un has sent ammunition and missiles, Iran has helped the Kremlin in building a drone-manufacturing factory. 

China has so far refrained from providing Russians with weaponry but has increased sales of machine tools, microelectronics and technology that Moscow in turn is using to produce missiles, tanks, aircraft and other weaponry.

(With inputs from agencies)