World News: Israel Hits Smuggling In Caspian --- Russia, Iran use world's largest inland sea to transfer oil, wheat and weapons

 

 

“An Israeli strike on a naval outpost in the Caspian Sea targeted Russia's support for Iran in the war, hitting a supply line that the countries have used to move ammunition, drones and other weaponry, people familiar with the matter said.

 

Last week's strike was Israel's first ever on the world's largest inland sea. Far beyond the reach of the U.S. Navy, the sea connects Russian and Iranian ports about 600 miles apart, giving the countries a place to freely swap weapons along with goods such as wheat and oil.

 

The route has become especially important for transferring Iran's Shahed drones -- now made in both countries -- which Russia has used to bombard Ukrainian military targets and Tehran has used to strike airports, energy facilities and U.S. bases across the Persian Gulf.

 

Cooperation between the two countries has expanded during the Iran war, with Russia sharing satellite imagery and improved drone technology to help Iran attack U.S. assets and other targets across the Gulf, people familiar with the matter have said.

 

"The most important goal of this strike was to limit Russian smuggling and show the Iranians that they don't have sea defenses in the Caspian," said Eliezer Marum, a former commander of the Israeli Navy.

 

The Israeli military said last Wednesday's attack on the Caspian port, Bandar Anzali, hit dozens of targets including warships, a port, a command center and a shipyard used to repair and maintain vessels.

 

Photos verified by the The Wall Street Journal and Storyful, which is owned by News Corp, the parent company of the Journal, showed damage to Iran's naval headquarters at the port, along with destroyed naval vessels, though the full extent of the damage to the port itself wasn't immediately clear.

 

Russia and Iran will likely try to continue smuggling weapons via different routes, though Israel has cleared the way to carry out more strikes if needed to further disrupt those operations, Marum said.

 

With military smuggling in the Caspian intertwined with trade in crucial supplies such as wheat, the attack also threatened Iran's food supply, signaling Israel's ability to bring greater pain to the population if necessary, the people familiar with the matter said.

 

It came around the time Israel's attack on Iran's South Pars natural-gas field hit an important source of supply for a range of civilian needs.

 

"I think the drone supply, potentially the grain supply, will have a potentially critical short-term impact on Iran's situation at this point," said Eric Rudenshiold, a former Central Asia director at the National Security Council and now a senior fellow at the Caspian Policy Center.

 

Russia's Foreign Ministry condemned Israel's attack, calling the port an important trade and logistics hub that it actively uses for trade in civilian goods with Iran. Moscow also warned against expanding the war to the Caspian.

 

The Israeli military said it is working to degrade Iran's military. The prime minister's office didn't respond to requests for comment.

 

The waterway has been a crucial source of supply for Russia after 2022 events in Ukraine. Moscow has used the Caspian to bring in large quantities of Iranian artillery shells and other ammunition to resupply troops on the front lines, the Journal has reported.

 

In 2023, ships plying the Caspian carried more than 300,000 artillery shells and a million rounds of ammunition from Iran to Russia, documents viewed by the Journal showed.

 

The route has posed a growing challenge for the U.S. and allies trying to disrupt cooperation between Moscow and Tehran. Russian and Iranian ships would often turn off their transponders while making their runs, leaving them even harder to track, analysts said.

 

The U.S. government has put sanctions on Iranian and Russian entities that have transported munitions and drones across the Caspian Sea in recent years, including shipping companies, vessels and individuals.

 

Some analysts said Iran and Russia would likely be able to shift trade to other Caspian Sea ports.

 

"It's not going to completely lead to the decline of Iranian food security or Russian food security or even when it comes to drone transfers,"said Nicole Grajewski, a professor at the Sciences Po university in Paris who specializes in Iran and Russia. "But it could disrupt the flow for a time."” [1]

 

It could also increase inflation in the USA, ruin the control of Trump in the American congress in midterm elections, and end the happy days of Israel, brought by Trump support.  

 

 

1. World News: Israel Hits Smuggling In Caspian --- Russia, Iran use world's largest inland sea to transfer oil, wheat and weapons. Peled, Anat.  Wall Street Journal, Eastern edition; New York, N.Y.. 25 Mar 2026: A8.