United States President Donald Trump has suggested that Russian leader Vladimir Putin may be offering limited assistance to Iran amid heightened tensions involving Washington, Tehran and Israel.
Trump made the remark during an interview with Fox News, where he acknowledged that the United States is also supporting Ukraine in its ongoing war with Russian forces.
“I think he [Putin] may be helping them a bit, yeah,” Trump said when asked about reports that Moscow could be providing intelligence support to Iran.
“He probably thinks we’re helping Ukraine,” Trump added. “They do it, and we do it.”
The comments follow reports in several US media outlets alleging that Russia has been sharing information about the locations of US military forces with Iran, potentially aiding Tehran in directing missile and drone strikes across the Middle East.
However, US Special Envoy for the Middle East Steve Witkoff said on Thursday that Russian officials had assured the Trump administration that Moscow was not supplying intelligence to Iranian authorities.
According to a report by The Wall Street Journal, citing US officials and a former Russian intelligence officer, the data allegedly provided by Russia could include coordinates of US military ships and aircraft.
Such information could help Iran identify potential targets across the region, particularly given Tehran’s limited satellite capabilities. Intelligence gathered from Russian satellites could help bridge gaps in Iran’s surveillance and targeting systems, the report said.
Trump has previously downplayed the potential impact of any intelligence support from Russia to Iran.
“If they are, they’re not doing a very good job,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One on 7 March. “Iran is not doing too well.”
The remarks come as the US administration moves to temporarily ease sanctions on Russian oil in an effort to stabilise global energy markets amid rising prices as the conflict enters its third week.
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent initially described the decision as a “narrowly tailored, short-term measure” that would not provide “significant financial benefit” to Moscow. He later told Sky News that the move was “an inevitability” and “unfortunate”.
The Kremlin welcomed the development. Russia’s special envoy Kirill Dmitriev said in a statement that “the United States is effectively acknowledging the obvious: without Russian oil, the global energy market cannot remain stable”.
The issue of intelligence sharing has also been central to the war in Ukraine. US intelligence has previously helped Kyiv target strategic Russian military installations as well as oil and gas facilities.
However, that assistance was temporarily paused in March last year following tense discussions between US and Ukrainian officials.
