Russia Helps Iran Plan Attacks with Satellites and Cyber Tools

Russia has been using its satellites to take close pictures of many military bases and important places in the Middle East. These images were shared with Iran so it could target U. S. forces and other sites more accurately. A report from Ukrainian intelligence says the satellite work happened in 11 countries and covered at least 46 targets, such as airfields, oil fields and naval bases. After the pictures were taken, Iran fired missiles and drones at some of these places within a few days. The pattern shows the satellites were used to plan the attacks before they happened. Nine of the satellite scans focused on Saudi Arabia, especially near a big U. S. -made air defense system called THAAD. Other countries like Turkey, Jordan and the UAE were also watched twice, while Israel, Qatar and Iraq were scanned once.The satellites also flew over the Strait of Hormuz, a key waterway for global oil and gas. Iran has blocked many ships there that it sees as hostile, so Russia’s monitoring could help Iran defend the area. Russia and Iran have grown closer after Russia started its war in Ukraine last year. They signed a partnership treaty that says their security services will share information and help each other. In the cyber world, Russia has been helping Iran too. Russian hacking groups and Iranian ones have talked on Telegram and worked together. Both sides use similar tools, like a Russian VPS service called ProfitServer, to run attacks on Israeli energy companies. These actions show that Russia is giving Iran both satellite images and cyber support to hit U. S. targets.