World News: Russia Is Stepping Up Its Support of Iran --- Moscow is trying to salvage what is left of a shrinking web of global partnerships

“Russia has emerged as one of the early winners in the Iran war, as surging oil prices have given its economy a boost and the Trump administration has eased restrictions on Russian oil. But over the longer term, the conflict poses a much bigger threat to its global ambitions.

 

In recent weeks, Russia has stepped up its support for Iran, its closest partner in the Middle East, providing satellite imagery and drone technology to help Iran target U.S. forces in the region.

 

Moscow is in part trying to salvage what is left of its shrinking web of partnerships that once made it the world's second-largest arms exporter behind the U.S., a backer of countries from the Middle East to Latin America and lent credibility to President Vladimir Putin's view of Russia as a great power.

 

Russia is "learning what it means when the United States acts completely unrestrained," said Hanna Notte, director for Eurasia at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies.

 

In January, U.S. forces swept into Venezuela and grabbed President Nicolas Maduro, asserting U.S. dominance over a country that had been a reliable buyer of Russian arms and a destination for hundreds of millions of dollars in Russian investments in its oil sector. President Trump has suggested that toppling the Cuban regime might be next on his list.

 

The attack on Iran poses a threat to Moscow's long-held strategy of maintaining a partnership of friendly countries and paramilitary groups on its southern flank. Its onetime partner in Syria, former President Bashar al-Assad, is sitting in Moscow after fleeing his country.

 

The Iranian regime is the linchpin in a network of militias, such as Lebanon's Hezbollah, which serve as the main challenge to U.S. and Israeli dominance in the region.

 

Russia has been advising the Iranians based on its experience in Ukraine, giving them tactical guidance on how many drones should be used in strikes and from which altitudes they should strike, The Wall Street Journal has reported.

 

Russia's advice and targeting information is believed to have aided Iran in strikes on U.S. radar systems in the region.

 

The potential survival of the Iranian regime would give Russia a chance to maintain a toehold in the Middle East. It would also give Moscow a chance to show it is capable of helping its partners fend off the U.S. military.

 

In addition, Moscow has sought to use its support for Iran as a bargaining chip with Washington. The Kremlin's envoy for negotiations on Ukraine told the U.S. special envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner that Russia would stop providing targeting information for Iran if the U.S. did the same with Ukraine.

 

Earlier in Trump's second term, Russia appeared reluctant to confront the U.S. directly as it tried to keep the Trump administration largely on the sidelines of the events in Ukraine.

 

But Moscow has increasingly expressed frustration as its interests have been bulldozed by Trump's foreign policies.

 

U.S. forces have boarded and seized several oil tankers linked to Russia, including one that a U.S. official said was to be escorted by a Russian submarine and other naval assets. The seizure of that tanker, now known as the Marinera, occurred despite the warning of the Russian Foreign Ministry to let it travel freely.

 

Farther afield, in a band of landlocked military regimes along the southern end of the Sahara -- Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger -- Russian mercenaries and military aid have proven unable to hold back jihadist groups that have encircled Mali's capital and expelled Burkina Faso's military from much of the countryside.

 

Russia has mostly stood back as military rulers in Mali and Niger quietly reactivated contact with the Trump administration, which has discussed security assistance.

 

In 2024, Putin promised "total support" to his African allies. In the nearly two years since, Burkina Faso and Mali have lost ground.

 

Trump has even trod into regions that have historically fallen under Russia's sphere of influence.

 

Last year, he invited Armenian President Nikol Pashinyan and Azeri President Ilham Aliyev to the White House, where he tried to resolve tensions between the former Soviet republics. In 2023, Azerbaijan started an offensive that took control of the Nagorno-Karabakh territory back from an ethnic Armenian government, while Russian peacekeepers didn't intervene.

 

The White House talks was one of the first attempts by a U.S. president to wade into the thorny issues of the region.

 

"When it comes to the South Caucasus, it almost seems like Trump is deliberately tweaking the Russians," said Samuel Charap, a senior political scientist.” [1]

 

The Russian oil tanker Anatoly Kolodkin arrived at the Cuban port of Matanzas on Monday, March 30, 2026.

The shipment was allowed to proceed after U.S. President Donald Trump signaled a sudden reversal of a de facto oil blockade his administration had imposed on the island.

 

Key Details of the Shipment

 

    Vessel: The Anatoly Kolodkin, which is currently under sanctions by the U.S., EU, and UK.

    Cargo: Approximately 100,000 metric tons (roughly 730,000 barrels) of crude oil.

   

 

Why the Tanker Went Through

 

The arrival of the tanker is a response to several factors:

 

    Humanitarian Crisis: Cuba is facing its worst energy and economic crisis since the Cold War. The island has not received an oil tanker in three months, leading to island-wide blackouts and a critical shortage of fuel for hospitals and transportation.

    U.S. Policy Shift: Despite a recent U.S. Treasury Department ban on Russian oil deliveries to Cuba, President Trump stated on Sunday that he had "no problem" with the delivery because the Cuban people "have to survive".

    Geopolitical Strategy: Russia describes the shipment as "humanitarian aid" to support a long-term ally. Analysts suggest Moscow is also using the windfall from high oil prices—driven by the ongoing war in Iran—to maintain its strategic influence in the Caribbean following the fall of allies in Venezuela.

    Avoidance of Conflict: Observers noted that blocking the tanker by force would have risked a direct military escalation with Russia at a time of high global tension.

 

 

1. World News: Russia Is Stepping Up Its Support of Iran --- Moscow is trying to salvage what is left of a shrinking web of global partnerships. Grove, Thomas.  Wall Street Journal, Eastern edition; New York, N.Y.. 30 Mar 2026: A8.