Russia Has Found a Way to Supply Iran With Weapons Bypassing Western Controls — NBC News

22.08.2026, 16:22 uatv.ua

Russia is shipping explosives, drone components, and ammunition to Iran across the Caspian Sea as part of an operation aimed at replenishing Tehran’s military arsenal, depleted during its combat operations against the US and Israel this year.

This is according to NBC News, citing a European government document confirmed by a Western official, UATV English reports.

The document describes shipments containing trinitrotoluene — an explosive substance known as TNT — as well as drone components and ammunition destined for Iran. Tehran needs these materials to restore military capabilities destroyed by American and Israeli strikes during the war. The Caspian route was chosen, in part, because Western forces have no way to block it.

Israeli airstrikes in March 2026 targeted the Caspian route directly: a strike was carried out on the Bandar-e Anzali port complex on Iran’s northern coast, and Iranian naval vessels and port infrastructure were also destroyed. Israeli officials described these strikes as an attempt to cut off the supply line.

The document reported on by NBC News indicates that the shipments continued or have resumed. However, Western intelligence agencies are not prepared to publicly assess how far Iran’s stockpile replenishment has progressed or how much material has already been transported.

The Caspian Sea has no outlet to the ocean and borders only Russia, Iran, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, and Azerbaijan. Under international convention, it falls exclusively under the jurisdiction of these five countries. No Western naval forces have legal access to its waters, and allied warships cannot intercept cargo transported between Russian and Iranian ports. Vessels can also switch off their automatic identification system transponders without attracting the kind of attention such a move would draw in open ocean.

As a result, the route bypasses all the chokepoints that the United States could otherwise control.

The war with the US has done serious damage to Iran’s ability to build up its drone program, particularly its Shahed-type kamikaze attack drones, which have become one of Tehran’s most important asymmetric military assets in the region. Restoring it requires exactly what the vessels from Russia are carrying: explosive materials to arm rebuilt drones and components for their production and repair.

Russia’s reasons for making these deliveries go beyond simple allied loyalty. Every Iranian drone that strikes an American position or facility in the Persian Gulf diverts US attention and resources away from Ukraine. Tehran’s ability to supply weapons to Hezbollah in Lebanon and affiliated groups in Iraq and Syria also depends on rebuilding its arsenal. At the same time, complications in America’s Middle East strategy have historically reduced the resources Washington could direct toward the war in Ukraine.

Neither Moscow nor Tehran has publicly commented on the specific shipments described in the document. Russian officials consistently deny providing Iran with military materials beyond what has previously been acknowledged. Iran has not commented on the state of its arsenal following the American and Israeli strikes.

However, it remains unclear whether the scale of Russian replenishment can offset Iran’s losses. American officials have refrained from offering specific assessments of how seriously Iran’s military capability has been weakened. This is partly because battle damage assessments following the strikes remain incomplete, and partly because overstating the consequences could undermine credibility if Iran’s military capability turns out to be more resilient than claimed.

The document confirms that Iran and Russia view stockpile replenishment as a strategic priority, the Caspian Sea as a key route for such deliveries, and the West as a side with no practical means of stopping them.

As previously reported, Iran is ready to move to offensive military action and strike to break the US naval blockade if diplomatic efforts to end the war fail.

Read also: Russian Oil Exports Fall to Lowest Level Since Late April, Bloomberg Reports