KYIV, Ukraine — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Wednesday accused Russia of trying to blackmail the United States by offering to stop passing intelligence to Iran if Washington cut off intelligence support for Ukraine, March 25. He said the alleged proposal showed Moscow was trying to turn its partnership with Tehran into leverage against Kyiv while Washington faced simultaneous crises in Europe and the Middle East.
In an interview with Reuters published March 25, Zelensky said he had reviewed the intelligence reporting himself, though he did not release the material publicly. He framed the alleged offer in stark terms, asking: “Isn’t that blackmail? Absolutely.”
Why the Russia-Iran intelligence claim matters now
The accusation widens the stakes of the Ukraine war beyond Europe. In a separate Reuters report published March 23, Zelensky said Kyiv had “irrefutable” evidence that Russia was still providing intelligence to Iran, including through its own signals and electronic intelligence capabilities and information gathered through partners in the Middle East.
Zelensky’s argument is that the cooperation is no longer only about helping Russia hit Ukrainian cities. He also said some Iranian drones used in attacks on U.S. military assets and regional partners contained Russian components. On March 20, Reuters reported that Ukraine had deployed specialist teams to Gulf states, including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar, to help counter Shahed-style drone attacks and advise on air defense.
Moscow has denied the charge. On March 10, Reuters reported that Russia told Washington it was not sharing information on U.S. military assets with Iran, according to U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff after a call between President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin. The Kremlin has also dismissed separate reporting that it was giving Tehran satellite imagery and upgraded drone technology.
Russia-Iran intelligence has been building for years
Zelensky’s allegation lands on top of a longer trail of cooperation between Moscow and Tehran. In July 2022, the White House said Iran was preparing to supply Russia with drones and to train Russian forces to use them, one of the earliest public signs that the Ukraine war was forging a more operational Russia-Iran axis.
By mid-2024, the relationship appeared to be moving beyond one-way drone shipments. Reuters reported in August 2024 that Russian personnel were training in Iran on the Fath-360 ballistic missile system, a development Western officials described as a possible escalation in Tehran’s support for Moscow’s war in Ukraine.
The political framework hardened, too. A January 2025 Reuters explainer on Russia’s strategic treaties noted that Moscow had signed a strategic partnership treaty with Iran as it deepened ties with other U.S. adversaries. Taken together, those steps suggest Zelensky is not describing an isolated maneuver but a mature relationship that can be used for pressure, bargaining and signaling across multiple theaters.
What Zelensky is trying to achieve
For Kyiv, the message is aimed at more than Moscow. Zelensky appears to be telling Washington and European allies that any attempt to separate Ukraine from the wider security picture misses how tightly the crises now overlap. If Russia can present intelligence support for Iran as a tradable asset, then U.S. intelligence support for Ukraine becomes more than battlefield assistance; it becomes part of a broader contest over whether Moscow can leverage one conflict to gain advantage in another.
That framing also serves Ukraine’s diplomatic needs as U.S. policy grows more transactional and pressure for concessions intensifies. By tying Russia’s conduct in the Middle East to the war in Ukraine, Zelensky is trying to keep Kyiv central to the conversation and to argue that weakening Ukraine would not insulate Washington from the fallout of Russian-Iranian cooperation.
The immediate facts remain disputed. Zelensky says the intelligence is solid but has not released it publicly, and Russia denies helping Iran target U.S. interests. Still, the allegation fits a pattern that has become harder to ignore: what began as drone cooperation has, over nearly four years, expanded into a broader Russia-Iran partnership with military, technical and strategic dimensions.
