Growing fears in UK and US of a secret nuclear deal between Iran and Russia

The UK and the US have reportedly discussed their shared concern that Russia provided nuclear secrets to Iran in exchange for ballistic missiles for its Ukraine war.

Prime minister Keir Starmer and US president Joe Biden discussed the fact that Iran and Russia are strengthening their military cooperation during a summit in Washington on Friday, which also covered other key issues around Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine , including Kyiv’s use of Western long-range missiles to hit targets deep inside Russia.

Mr Starmer and Mr Biden discussed intelligence pointing to a deal that would see the Kremlin providing Iran nuclear technology, sources on the British side told The Times.

If confirmed, such a deal would be especially alarming as Tehran is advancing its programme of uranium enrichment – a step towards developing a nuclear weapon.

Ukraine’s Western allies have claimed that Iran has supplied short-range ballistic missiles to Russia and the weapons would likely be used in the war against Ukraine in the coming weeks. The United States, Britain, France and Germany hit Tehran with more sanctions, condemning its “escalatory” move.

Iran has denied supplying weapons to Russia, rejecting the claims as “completely baseless and false”. Russia has not denied the reports directly, instead responding by calling Iran an “important partner” and saying their cooperation was only deepening.

Early last week the US secretary of state Antony Blinken told reporters in the UK at a press conference alongside foreign minister David Lammy that Russia had recently acquired new ballistic missiles from Iran.

He warned about Russia sharing secret nuclear data with Iran – a factor that could have implications for both Israel and the US.

“Russia is sharing technology that Iran seeks – this is a two-way street – including on nuclear issues, as well as some space information.”

“Dozens of Russian military personnel have been trained in Iran to use the FATH-360 close-range ballistic missile system, which has a maximum range of 75 miles. Russia has now received shipments of these ballistic missiles and will likely use them within weeks in Ukraine,” said the US’s top diplomat.

Iran agreed to stop pursuing nuclear weapon development as part of a 2015 deal in exchange for sanctions relief from the US and other countries. But the agreement broke down after then-US president Donald Trump pulled out of the deal in 2018.

It’s unclear how much technical expertise Tehran currently has to build a nuclear weapon or how quickly it could do so. However, collaborating with experienced Russian specialists would likely accelerate the process.

The potential deal is expected to increase pressure on the US and UK to allow Ukraine to use long-range missiles – Britain’s Storm Shadows and US ATACMS – to strike military targets inside Russia. It was a key topic discussed during the Washington summit but no decision was announced.

At least five former Conservative defence secretaries – Grant Shapps, Ben Wallace, Gavin Williamson, Penny Mordaunt and Liam Fox – as well as ex-prime minister Boris Johnson, have called on Mr Starmer to ease restrictions on Ukraine’s use of Storm Shadows, though they also depend on US cooperation to be fully effective.