Russia and Iran have long had positive bilateral relations, which deepened in the context of the Ukraine war, and now in the midst of Trump's Operation Epic Fury, where Moscow is said to be sharing vital intelligence and targeting information with Tehran.
Fresh reporting in The Wall Street Journal suggests that recent large-scale Israeli attacks in the Caspian Sea could mean flirting with WW3 and potential attacks on Russian interests and assets.
"An Israeli strike on a naval outpost in the Caspian Sea targeted Russia’s support for Iran in the war, hitting a supply line that the countries have used to move ammunition, drones and other weaponry, people familiar with the matter said," WSJ writes late in the day Tuesday.
"Last week's strike was Israel’s first ever on the world’s largest inland sea," the report continues to point out. It was "Far beyond the reach of the U.S. Navy, the sea connects Russian and Iranian ports about 600 miles apart, giving the countries a place to freely swap weapons along with goods such as wheat and oil."
While Western media has labeled this as a 'smuggling route' - Moscow would see this as more simply legitimate bilateral trade on defense and other items.
According to more details:
The route has become especially important for transferring Iran’s Shahed drones—now made in both countries—which Russia has used to bombard Ukrainian cities and Tehran has used to strike airports, energy facilities and U.S. bases across the Persian Gulf.
Cooperation between the two countries has expanded during the war, with Russia sharing satellite imagery and improved drone technology to help Iran attack U.S. assets and other targets across the Gulf, people familiar with the matter have said.
Again, that Iran and Russia exercise transfer of goods under their mutual economic and defense pacts should come as no surprise.
What should comes as a surprise is Israel's willingness to brazenly poke the bear in its own backyard. Eliezer Marum, a former commander of the Israeli Navy, was quoted in the same report as saying: "The most important goal of this strike was to limit Russian smuggling and show the Iranians that they don’t have sea defenses in the Caspian."
Both Israel and the US have since touted that the whole of the Iranian Navy is basically destroyed and incapacitated, including its fleet in the Caspian Sea. Not much in the way of video, images, or ground-level confirmation have been forthcoming, other than what Israel's military has shared. But it is probably safe to assume that Iran's naval capabilities have indeed been greatly degraded.