Iran’s alleged ammunition for Russia’s war in Ukraine: The secret journey of the cargo ships accused of supplying invasion
Iran has secretly supplied large quantities of bullets, rockets and mortar shells to Russia for the war in Ukraine and plans to send more, a security source has told Sky News.
The source claimed that two Russian-flagged cargo ships departed an Iranian port in January bound for Russia via the Caspian Sea, carrying approximately 100 million bullets and around 300,000 shells.
Ammunition for rocket launchers, mortars and machine guns was allegedly included in the shipments.
The source said Moscow paid for the ammunition in cash.
It was not possible to independently verify the volume of the alleged military assistance. One expert cautioned that the amount sounded high.
However, Sky News understands it is suspected that Iran has been shipping an amount of ammunition to Russia to help replenish its stocks on the frontline in Ukraine.
Russian supplies are thought to be running low after more than a year of President Putin’s full-scale war.
The alleged assistance is on top of previous allegations that Tehran provided Moscow with hundreds of deadly drones, which have played a part in attempts to destroy Ukraine’s energy infrastructure.
“Russia continues to use Iran as a ‘rear base’,” the security source said, describing the close military ties between the two countries.
Western and Ukrainian officials have also warned that Iran might supply far deadlier ballistic missiles but there has been no evidence of that happening yet.
As well as the Iranian support, concern is growing in western capitals about the potential for China to start supplying Russia with weapons – a move that the United States has warned would have “severe consequences” for Beijing. China has denied the claims.
The ‘secret’ cargo ships
The security source said the two general cargo ships allegedly involved in transferring ammunition from Iran to Russia were called the Musa Jalil and the Begey.
Both sail under the Russian flag.
The Russian cargo ship ‘Musa Jalil’. Picture taken in 2014 by S Melnikov
Sky News has approached the owner of the ships in Russia for comment on the claims but has so far not received a reply.
Russia’s Ministry of Defence and Iran’s Foreign Ministry have also yet to respond to a request for comment.
The source said one of the ships is thought to have departed Iran on around 10 January and the other on around 12 January.
Between them, the two vessels were thought to be carrying about 200 shipping containers filled with weaponry, according to the source.
The source said they were confident in their assessment of the amount of ammunition that was being transported.
“Two hundred containers on two ships are capable of carrying this amount of munitions,” the source added.
The Russian cargo ship ‘Begey’. Archive picture taken by Giwrgos Mertis
What the marine tracking data tells us
Research by Sky News’ Data & Forensics Unit supported the general claim about the movement of the ships, though the dates slightly differed.
It was not possible to independently verify what was being transported by the vessels.
Maritime shipping tracker MarineTraffic placed the two ships at the Iranian port of Amirabad on the Caspian Sea on 9 January. Satellite imagery from the following day obtained by Sky News shows at least one of the ships still at the port.
This satellite image obtained by Sky News shows at least one of the ships, the Musa Jalil, in the Iranian port before it leaves for Russia
According to the maritime tracking data, the Musa Jalil left the port at around 10am local time on 10 January, while the Begey departed on the same day.
The Musa Jalil and Begey are seen in the tracking data heading away from the Iranian coast towards Russia. Pic – MarineTraffic
On 12 January, again according to the tracking data, both ships stop off the coast of Turkmenistan for a couple of days. The reason for this is not known.
The Musa Jalil and the Begey then travelled across the Caspian Sea, arriving at the Russian port of Astrakhan on 27 January. They remained at the port for several days before leaving on 3 February, according to the tracking data.
Both Russian ships can be seen in Astrakhan Port in Russia in this satellite image from 2 February. They go on to leave the port in the next 24 hours
The ships are clearly visible in the Russian port in these zoomed in satellite images
The security source did not confirm the name of the port in Iran that the two ships left from, nor which port in Russia they arrived at.
The source did confirm that the ships travelled to Russia via the Caspian Sea.
“Iran sent two cargo ships to the combat zone in Ukraine, carrying approximately 200 new shipping containers that contained ammunition for the Russian fighting in Ukraine,” the security source said.
Map showing the locations of the two ships on satellite images obtained by Sky News
What’s in the cargo?
The source listed the alleged cargo as comprising approximately 100 million bullets of varying sizes – 5.56mm, 7.62mm, 9mm, 12.7mm and 14.5mm – to be used in weapons such pistols, assault rifles and machine guns.
The ships were also carrying a range of other ammunition, the source said, including approximately 300,000 shells, such as 40mm grenades for grenade launchers, 107mm anti-tank rockets, and mortar shells of different sizes – 60mm, 81mm and 120mm – as well as artillery rockets (130mm, 122mm and 152mm) and armour shells (115mm and 125mm).
In addition, the source said there were close to 10,000 flak jackets and helmets on board.
“Russia pays for the ammunition in cash and by doing so, bypasses the western sanctions on it, ignoring the sanctions on Iran,” the source added.
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Iran choosing ‘wrong side of history’
Asked about the claims, Ukraine’s ambassador to the UK said he was not surprised that Iran was allegedly supplying ammunition to Russia and said he expected there would be more such support, but he urged the Islamic Republic to stop being on the “wrong side of history”.
Vadym Prystaiko told Sky News the fact that Russia has to ask what he dubbed a “coalition of weak nations” such as Iran and North Korea for help underlined the difficulties it was facing on the battlefield, using up its own stockpiles of munitions against Ukrainian troops.
The level of artillery fire in Ukraine has not been seen since the Korean war – straining supply lines on both sides.
A Ukrainian brigadier has claimed the Russian military had been firing between 60,000 to 70,000 artillery shells a day.
US officials have put the top rate at 20,000 daily.
Both Ukraine and the US have said the level has dropped because of stocks running low.
“They – allegedly the second biggest army in the world – (are) running out of resources, which is a great result for the Ukrainian armed forces,” the Ukrainian ambassador said in an interview at the embassy in London.
The envoy said western sanctions were impacting Russia’s ability to use its defence industry to replenish stocks fast enough but more work was needed to shut down other routes.
“We still have actively to pursue the Iranians and the rest of these regimes to stop the supply to Russians to fuel this war in Ukraine,” Mr Prystaiko said.
General Sir Richard Barrons, a former senior British military officer, said an influx of 300,000 shells from Iran, while helpful for Russia, would not last long given the rate of fire.
By contrast, should China decide to make its vast munition stockpiles available to President Putin’s war machine that would be “very, very difficult for Ukraine”, he added.
At least 10 people have been killed after a fire broke out at a retirement home in northern Spain in the early hours of this morning, officials have said.
A further two people were seriously injured in the blaze at the residence in the town of Villafranca de Ebro in Zaragoza, according to the Spanish news website Diario Sur.
Two people remain in a critical condition following the blaze. Pic: AP
They remain in a critical condition, while several others received treatment for smoke inhalation.
Firefighters were alerted to the blaze at the residence – the Jardines de Villafranca – at 5am (4am UK time) on Friday.
Several residents were treated for smoke inhalation. Pic: AP
Those who were killed in the fire died from smoke inhalation, Spanish newspaper Heraldo reported.
The residence is home to 82 elderly residents.
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The blaze started in one of the rooms, Fernando Beltran, the national government’s top official in the region, told reporters.
All of the victims were elderly residents, he added.
Relatives wait for news outside the care home. Pic: AP
Fire crews, paramedics and police officers remain on site, said a spokesperson for the regional government of Aragon who confirmed the fatalities.
It took firefighters several hours to extinguish the blaze, they said.
The cause of the fire is unknown and is being investigated.
UN climate talks are “no longer fit for purpose” and should only be hosted by countries who are trying to give up fossil fuels, veterans of the process have said.
An open letter to the United Nations, signed by former UN chief Ban Ki-moon, made a dramatic intervention in the 29th COP climate summit, under way in Baku, Azerbaijan.
Frustration over petrostate hosts – following last year’s summit in UAE – as well as the influence of fossil fuel lobbyists, prohibitive costs, and slow progress have been mounting in recent years.
The letter acknowledges the strides COPs have made on ramping up climate policies.
“But it is now clear that the COP is no longer fit for purpose,” the authors said.
“Its current structure simply cannot deliver the change at exponential speed and scale, which is essential to ensure a safe climate landing for humanity.”
The letter’s 22 signatories also include former Ireland President Mary Robinson and Christiana Figueres, former head of the UN climate body (UNFCCC) that runs the annual COP summits.
It called for the process to be streamlined and for countries to be held accountable for their promises.
Sky News analysis has found only “marginal” progress has been made since the “historic” pledge from COP28 last year to transition away from fossil fuels.
Pic: AP Photo/Peter Dejong
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The letter also called for “strict eligibility criteria” for host countries to exclude those “who do not support the phase out/transition away from fossil energy”.
This year’s host country, petrostate Azerbaijan, has been engulfed in controversy.
Its authoritarian president Ilham Aliyev used his opening address to criticise western hypocrisy and praise oil and gas as a “gift” from God. His criticism of France, with whom relations have long been tense, drove the French minister to cancel a trip to the summit.
While the government and its COP team run separate operations, host countries are supposed to smooth over disagreements and find consensus between the almost 200 countries gathered.
COP presidencies are also nominating themselves to be climate leaders and throwing their own countries under the spotlight.
Azerbaijan is a small developing country that relies significantly on oil and gas revenues. But it has made slow progress on building out clean power – getting just 1.5% of its energy from clean sources – and led a harsh crackdown on critics in the run up to the COP.
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Azerbaijan team ‘optimistic’ about talks
In an interview with Sky News on Sunday, its lead negotiator Yalchin Rafiyev was unable to say whether Azerbaijan preferred to extract all its oil and gas or seek another, cleaner economic pathway – hard though that would be.
In a news conference yesterday, Mr Rafiyev said the president had been “quite clear” and he would not comment further.
“We have opened our doors to everybody,” he added.
Some diplomats here have hinted that Azerbaijan’s presidency team mean well but might be a little out of their depth. They have never been out in front at previous COPs, but they also only had a year to prepare for their turn hosting the mighty summit.
“My sense of this is that they’re a little underprepared, a little overwhelmed and a little bit short,” said one, speaking anonymously, as is customary for diplomats trying to maintain good relations.
“But I’m not sure that that’s politics. It might just be bandwidth and preparation and things like that.”
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Different regions in the world take turns to host a COP. This year it was up to Eastern Europe, but the selection process took longer than usual due to tensions over Russia’s war in Ukraine and between Azerbaijan and rival Armenia.
Achim Steiner of the UN Development Programme, called it “troubling” that some countries face questions over their host roles.
“Are there countries that are by definition good hosts and others are bad hosts?” he asked.
“In the United Nations, we maintain the principle of every nation, first of all, should have a right to be heard.
“Labels are not always the fairest way of describing a nation. Some of the largest oil producers have hosted this COP in the past, and seemingly this seemed to be a perfectly acceptable phenomenon.”
COP stands for “conference of the parties” and refers to countries (“parties”) who have signed the underlying climate treaty.
Azerbaijan’s COP29 team and the UN’s climate body have been contacted with a request to comment.
World
Body pulled from mine after police cut off supplies to ‘smoke out’ thousands of illegal miners
A body has been recovered from a South African mine after police cut off basic supplies in an effort to force around 4,000 illegal miners to resurface.
The body has emerged from the closed gold mine in the northwest town of Stilfontein a day after South Africa’s government said it would not help the illegal miners.
Around 20 people have surfaced from the mineshaft this week as police wait nearby to arrest all those appearing from underground.
It comes a day after a cabinet minister said the government was trying to “smoke them [the miners] out”.
The move is part of the police’s “Close the Hole” operation, whereby officers cut off supplies of food, water and other basic necessities to get those who have entered illegally to come out.
Local reports suggest the supply routes were cut off at the mine around two months ago, with relatives of the miners seen in the area as the stand-off continues.
Relatives of miners and community members wait at the mine shaft. Pic: AP
A decomposed body was brought up on Thursday, with pathologists on the scene, police spokesperson Athlenda Mathe said.
It comes after South African cabinet minister Khumbudzo Ntshavheni told reporters on Wednesday that the government would not send any help to the illegal miners, known in the country as zama zamas, because they are involved in a criminal act.
“We are not sending help to criminals. We are going to smoke them out. They will come out. Criminals are not to be helped; criminals are to be prosecuted. We didn’t send them there,” Ms Ntshavheni said.
An aerial view of a mineshaft. Pic: AP
Senior police and defence officials are expected to visit the area on Friday to “reinforce the government’s commitment to bringing this operation to a safe and lawful conclusion”, according to a media advisory from the police.
In the last few weeks, over 1,000 miners have surfaced at various mines in South Africa’s North West province, where police have cut off supplies.
Many of the miners were reported to be weak, hungry and sickly after going for weeks without basic supplies.
Illegal mining remains common in South Africa’s old gold-mining areas, with miners going into closed shafts to dig for any possible remaining deposits.
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Relatives of miners and community members wait near the mine shaft. Pic: AP
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The illegal miners are often from neighbouring countries, and police say the illegal operations involve larger syndicates that employ the miners.
Their presence in closed mines has also created problems with nearby communities, which complain that the illegal miners commit crimes ranging from robberies to rape.
Illegal mining groups are known to be heavily armed and disputes between rival groups sometimes result in fatal confrontations.
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