Russia is resupplying its troops fighting in Ukraine with Iranian artillery shells and other ammunition that it is shipping across the Caspian Sea, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing Middle East officials.
According to the officials and documents viewed by WSJ, cargo shops have carried more than 300,000 artillery shells and million rounds of ammunition from Iran to Russia across the sea.
U.S. officials are aware of the shipments from intelligence reports, people familiar with the matter told the WSJ.
Iran has supplied Russia mainly with its Shahed "kamikaze" drones that have been used to target Ukraine's critical infrastructure, particularly energy infrastructure. U.S. officials have said the U.S. and its allies are looking for ways to disrupt Iranian weapons transfers to Russia, according to the WSJ.
U.S. officials say that Iran has mostly used cargo planes to provide Russia with military aid, which makes "it all but impossible to intervene," the WSJ wrote. Any action to prevent shipments in the Caspian Sea would require assistance from other former Soviet republics that border the sea, the WSJ reported.