The Real Winner of the Iran War

There is a peculiar pattern to Donald Trump’s foreign policy. On the surface, it always looks chaotic but if you zoom out just a little, the beneficiaries become clearer.

And as always, the biggest beneficiary is the man sitting in the Kremlin.

At first blush, the U.S. war with Iran appears to be the opposite of doing Vladimir Putin’s bidding. Iran is, after all, Moscow’s closest Middle Eastern ally. Tehran has supplied Russia with drones used to bombard Ukrainian cities, and the two governments have steadily deepened military and intelligence ties since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

In recent years, Iran has become one of Russia’s most important military partners in its war against Ukraine, supplying weapons, technology, and logistical support that have helped sustain Moscow’s battlefield operations. Most notably, Tehran has provided thousands of Shahed-136 “kamikaze” drones, which Russia has used extensively to strike Ukrainian cities, infrastructure, and energy facilities since 2022. Russia has launched more than 8,000 Iranian-developed drones during the war, using them in mass attacks designed to overwhelm air defenses. These relatively cheap drones allow Russia to conserve more expensive missiles while still carrying out long-range strikes on civilian and military targets.

https://saltypolitics.substack.com/p/the-real-winner-of-the-iran-war