Satellite imagery has captured a Russian-flagged cargo ship suspected of transporting ballistic missiles from Iran docked at a port in Russia a week ago.
A Ukrainian source told Sky News the Port Olya 3 vessel had shipped around 220 short-range ballistic missiles via the Caspian Sea to Russia to be used for its war in Ukraine.
The source said the ship arrived at the Russian port on 4 September.
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Satellite imagery analysed by the Sky News Data & Forensics team pictures the vessel on that day at Port Olya in the region of Astrakhan, in southern Russia, by the Caspian Sea.
Ship tracking data shows the Port Olya 3 had been at the Iranian port of Amirabad just six days earlier, on 29 August.
After arriving in Russia, the Ukrainian source said it is believed the Fateh-360 ballistic missiles – with a range of more than 70 miles – were loaded on to a large cargo train.
The image of the ship at the port – captured by a Maxar satellite – was taken at 0751 UTC (Coordinated Universal Time) on 4 September.
Two days later another satellite image shows the ship had left the port.
No data has been shared since 29 August. Six days after the ship last shared its position it arrived at the Russian port.
We regularly see ships turning off their tracking to conceal movements. AIS transponders are required by the International Maritime Organization on any ship weighing 300 gross tonnes or more.
In the Caspian Sea, untraceable ships have become more common as Iran and Russia continue to trade weapons. This strategy has been labelled “dark port calls”.
The limited tracking data available shows the Port Olya 3 regularly travels between Iran and Russia.
It is not clear where the ballistic missiles were taken once they arrived at the Russian port.
Marine tracking data from marinetraffic shows previous journeys of the ship
The Ukrainian source said an assumption is that they will be sent to a military training ground called Ashuluk for tests and to enable further training before they are used on the battlefield.
The revelations come after Anthony Blinken, the US secretary of state, announced on Tuesday that the US believes the Russian military has received shipments of Iranian Fatah-360 ballistic missiles.
Iran and Russia have denied the claims.
Mr Blinken said Russian troops have been trained on how to deploy the munitions and warned that Russian commanders “will likely use them within weeks in Ukraine against Ukrainians”.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi said on Wednesday that Tehran did not deliver any ballistic missiles to Russia, adding that sanctions imposed by the US and the E3 (UK, France and Germany) against his country are not a solution.
A file image of the Port Olya 3 taken in 2023. Pic: Artyom Mulyavka
Sky News and other news organisations reported on Saturday that the Kremlin had received the missiles in defiance of warnings from the West.
It is a serious step-up in what is already a significant level of military assistance given by Iran to its ally, which until now had comprised of attack drones, ammunition and artillery shells – aid that had already triggered increased western sanctions and outrage.
Mr Blinken called the supply of ballistic missiles a “dramatic escalation”.
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‘Russia has received Iranian missiles’
Washington and London subsequently issued a wave of new sanctions against Iran, including sanctioning a number of cargo ships accused of involvement in the transportation of weapons from Iran to Russia.
The Port Olya 3 is among the ships on the latest US sanctions list.
Beyond sanctions, expectations are growing that Iran’s supply of ballistic missiles to Russia will prompt the US and the UK to allow Ukraine to fire American and British long-range missiles inside Russia.
This has so far not been granted despite mounting pleas by Kyiv because of concerns about how Russia might respond.
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Mr Blinken and his British counterpart David Lammy are in Ukraine on Wednesday to talk with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy about his request to use long-range missiles inside Russia.
The outcome of the meeting will be shared with US President Joe Biden and Sir Keir Starmer, the British prime minister, before the two leaders are due to meet in Washington on Friday where any decision on the use of British and American long-range missiles inside Russia is widely expected to be made.
Responding to the allegations about the supply of ballistic missiles, senior Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) commander, Brigadier Fazlollah Nozari, denied the claim, according to the Iranian Labour News Agency, as he branded it “a kind of psychological warfare”.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said he had seen the report, but not all such reports were correct.