Iranian missiles smuggled to Russia via Caspian Sea, claims CNN

The television station CNN has obtained a photo of a ship in a Russian port on the Caspian Sea, which—according to American sources—transported Iranian-made ballistic missiles. The container ship was reportedly in that port eight days ago.

The ship Port Olya 3 was identified using satellite imagery by Maxar Technologies, a company specialising in satellite photography. The image was captured on 4 September in the port in Astrakhan Oblast in Russia, CNN reported on Wednesday. The photo was also published by Sky News.

According to data from maritime tracking sites, the container ship was in the Iranian port of Amirabad on 29 August. It is crucial that shortly after leaving the port, the ship turned off its transponder, which made tracking it impossible.

The U.S. Treasury Department announced on Tuesday that the Russian defence ministry "used the ship Port Olya 3 to transport ballistic missiles from Iran". A day earlier, U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said during his visit to London that the U.S. believes Russia received a batch of Fath-360 ballistic missiles made in Iran, which it may use in the coming weeks for attacks in Ukraine.

"In September 2024, Russia received the first batch of Iranian short-range ballistic missiles," the U.S. Treasury Department said, announcing sanctions on the Port Olya 3 and three other ships, as well as a group of Iranian citizens.

CNN had previously received information from American officials that negotiations between Russia and Iran began in September of last year. The negotiations reportedly took place when then-Russian Defence Minister Sergey Shoigu went to Iran to view Ababil short-range missiles.

The American television station added that President Joe Biden and UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer will discuss the transport of Iranian weapons to Russia on Friday at 13:00 GMT.