By Maryam Manzoori | 2025-03-22

The Iranian regime has recently increased its military spending, boosting its annual budget by 200% and unveiling a new drone carrier and an array of military drones, while expanding its underground military facilities.

As it finds itself increasingly isolated, it also has sought to enhance military ties with Russia -- both openly, with recent joint drills in the Gulf of Oman -- and surreptitiously, with an eye towards shared technology and manufacturing.

Evidence has now come to light that the regime quietly brought Russian missile specialists into the country in 2024, a Reuters investigation revealed March 8.

Seven senior Russian weapons experts, including high-ranking military officers, were booked on flights to Iran on April 24 and September 17, the report said.

Their passport numbers, bearing the "20" prefix, indicated official state business, according to flight documents and passenger manifests reviewed by Reuters.

Tehran actively sought Russian expertise, inviting specialists to inspect multiple concealed missile production sites last year, including two subterranean installations. At Iran's request, Russian specialists also visited a missile base near the port of Amirabad on the Caspian Sea.

The Russian missile experts' visits to Iran have raised concerns -- not for the first time -- about the potential transfer of missile and other military technology.

The collaboration with Russian experts comes as the Iranian regime has taken steps to limit international oversight of its nuclear program.

In September 2023, the regime barred around one-third of the most experienced inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) from monitoring its nuclear sites.

IAEA director-general Rafael Grossi condemned the move as "disproportionate and unprecedented."

Grossi also has warned that Iran now possesses enough enriched uranium for "several" nuclear bombs if it chose to build them.

In 2023, Iranian media reported that Tehran and Moscow were moving ahead with plans to build a new factory in Russia capable of manufacturing at least 6,000 Iran-designed drones, to be used in Russia's war on Ukraine.

A high-level Iranian delegation flew to Russia the same year to visit the proposed drone factory site in the town of Yelabuga.

Later that year, the US Air Force commander in the Middle East warned that Russian modifications could bolster Iran's drone technology.

Military collaboration

"Russia has collaborated with the Iranian regime on its nuclear program for more than a decade and now uses Iranian-made missiles and drones in Ukraine," said Mustafa, a mechanical engineer at a cargo airport in western Iran.

"In exchange, Moscow protects the regime's interests at venues like the United Nations Security Council," he told Pishtaz, giving only his first name out of concern for his security.

"The regime knows full well it lacks popular support among Iranians," he said. "In pursuing ties with Moscow, it serves its own interests rather than those of the Iranian nation."

The regime's military spending priorities have devastated the domestic economy.

"As we approach the Persian New Year, people are closely monitoring the news while facing unprecedented financial hardship," a Tehran-based financial analyst who gave her name as Mehri told Pishtaz.

"We don't want our national wealth pouring into the pockets of the regime's proxy groups in the region while we suffer from air pollution, poverty, power outages and inflation," she said.