The Russian Federation pays for arms deliveries with oil shipments – this type of barter trade is becoming more common due to sanctions.
Oil businessman Hossein Shamkhani – the son of Ayatollah Khamenei’s adviser – provides more than a quarter of Iran’s arms supply to Russia. Bloomberg reports this with reference to informed officials from the US, UK and Europe.
The businessman is the son of Iran’s former Defense Minister Ali Shamkhani, who now holds the position of adviser to Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.
Last year, Shamkhani Jr., through his network of companies, including Dubai-based Crios Shipping LLC, began delivering missiles, drone components and dual-use goods to Russia across the Caspian Sea in down to two ships.
Moscow pays for arms shipments with cargoes of oil, a type of barter trade that has become more common due to US and European sanctions against Russia and Iran. Overall, Shamkhani’s network of companies provides more than a quarter of the total volume of Iranian arms supplies to Russia.
Since mid-2023, several Crios vessels that previously sailed the Mediterranean and Black Sea routes suddenly moved to the Caspian Sea, and since then they have been sailing back and forth between Iran and the Russian Federation . These ships are Sea Castle (also known as Tooka) and Sea Anchor (also known as Roja), although they are not the only ones. This year, both ships have made at least five voyages from Iranian ports to Astrakhan, Russia.
Spokesmen for the governments of Iran and Russia declined to comment, and a State Department spokesman said the United States had warned of a deepening security partnership between Russia and Iran since the full-scale invasion began. Russia in Ukraine.
Let’s remember that the Iranian authorities do not want to support the Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad in the fight against the rebels because they fear the reaction of Israel.
We added that Syrian rebels destroyed the Iranian embassy in Damascus after the fall of the government of President Bashar al-Assad.
Source: korrespondent
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