Israel left Putin without ballistic missiles from Iran

Israeli military strike on Iranian military targets on the night of October 26, they may remove Russia from the Iranian weapons that the Kremlin is buying for the war in Ukraine.

The Israeli attack, which involved about 100 air force aircraft, including F-35 stealth fighters, has struck key Iranian missile production facilitiessay informed sources of Axios publication.

According to them, Israel has succeeded to shut down 12 facilities producing fuel for Iran’s ballistic missileswhich began delivery to the Russian military in 2024. According to the US and the EU, the first batch of short-range missiles was Fath-360 delivery to Russia in September. At least some of them, according to Ukraine, were destroyed as a result of an arsenal of rocket and artillery weapons being dropped near the town of Kotluban, Volgograd region.

Iran does not have its own technology to restore the destroyed production lines, therefore missile production may be halted for at least a yearthe sources told Axios. This means that the Lebanese group “Hezbollah“, the Yemeni Houthis and the Russian army will be left without Iranian missiles, notes the Israeli expert on the Middle East Anschel Pfeffer: “Iran will not be able to supply ballistic missiles to Russia for several months until it restores its production capacity.”

In addition to missiles, Russia buys Shahed drones from Iran, and the total cost of foreign weapons purchases, including North Korean missiles, reaches 120-150 billion rubles per quarter, he respect Janis Klugeresearcher at the German Institute for International Security Problems. That is about 15 percent of Russia’s domestic government funding for defense procurement, which reaches 1 trillion rubles per quarter, Kluge said, based on data from the budget system e.

Israel’s attack on Iran, which was in response to shelling on Israeli territory on October 1, caused “deep concern” in the Iranian government, sources in Tehran told the New York Times: the attack damaged the air defense system and the main energy and economic centers of the Islamic Republic were left unprotected.

By doing so, the Israeli military was able to neutralize several Russian S-300 systems that Iran bought from Moscow in 2016, notes Mark Dubowitz, an analyst at the American Foundation for Defense of Democracies.

Iran will use “all possible tools” to respond

Iran will use “all possible tools” to respond to Israel’s attack on military targets in the country over the weekend, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghai said today, quoted by Reuters.

Tehran earlier played down Israel’s airstrike on Saturday, saying it caused only minor damage. US President Joe Biden has called for a halt to the escalation that has raised fears of a full-scale war in the Middle East.

“(Iran) will use all possible tools to give a proper and effective response to the Zionist regime (Israel)”Bagai said at his weekly press conference.

The nature of Iran’s response depends on the nature of Israel’s attack, he said without elaborating.

Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said yesterday that the Iranian authorities must decide the best way to show Iran’s strength to Israel, adding that Israel’s attack should not “Not understated or overwhelming”.