Iran delivers ballistic missiles to Russia without launchers: report

Iran sent ballistic missiles to Russia without the mobile launchers needed to fire them — and it doesn’t look like Tehran will be sending the crucial equipment anytime soon, according to a report.

On Sept. 10, Secretary of State Antony Blinken accused Tehran of providing Russia with short-range ballistic missiles to Moscow, which would “likely use them within weeks in Ukraine.”

Sources told Reuters it’s not clear why the Russian ally didn’t provide the launchers alongside the Fath-360 missiles, but a European intelligence official said they didn’t expect Iran would provide the equipment. 

Experts suggested multiple explanations for the launchers’ absence, including that it could be part of a ploy to shore up goodwill during the coming week’s talks at the United Nations General Assembly in New York between Iranian and Western officials. 

Iranian officials, including the nation’s new “reformist” president, Masoud Pezeshkian, will meet with European leaders off to the side of the main events at the UN to potentially discuss Tehran’s nuclear program, regional hostilities and other issues. 

“One can imagine that if there are Iranian missiles raining down [on Ukraine] there would be condemnation at the General Assembly,” said David Albright, head of the Institute for Science and International Security and a former UN nuclear inspector.

Fabian Hinz, an Iranian missiles expert at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, suggested the missing launchers also may be because Russia is expected to modify its own trucks that are equipped to handle the difficult terrain in Ukraine. Tehran typically converts trucks produced by Mercedes and other companies into missile launchers that are easily disguised.

“A commercial, off-the-shelf Mercedes truck is just not that off-road capable,” he said. 

Tehran has denied arming Russia with missiles or the thousands of drones Kyiv and Western leaders have accused Moscow of using to attack both military targets and destroy Ukrainian infrastructure such as its electrical grid. 

Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is also set to travel to the United States this week, where he is expected to discuss his “victory plan” for ending the years-long war with Russiawith President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, along with former President Donald Trump. 

Bloomberg reported that the plan, which the Ukrainian leader has characterized as a framework to coerce Russian President Vladimir Putin to seek peace, would push Biden to provide Kyiv with an official invitation to join NATO, as well as supply advanced arms.

The plan also will request a clear course for Ukraine to become a member of the European Union, along with other arrangements to boost its economic development and ensure security, the outlet reported. 

“The Victory Plan, this bridge to strengthening Ukraine, can contribute to more productive future diplomatic meetings with Russia,” Zelenskiy told reporters. 

“Russia should see it.”

With Post wires.