Russia is helping Iran target US military: Sources

Sources tell CNN that Russia is aiding Iran's war effort by providing intel on U.S. military targets. When President Trump was asked about this, here's how he reacted.

It sounds like the Russians are helping Iran target and attack Americans now.

That's an easy problem compared to what we're doing here. Can I be honest? It's just, I have a lot of respect for you. You've always been very nice to me. What a stupid question that is to be asking at this time. We're talking about something else.

CNN's Gabe Cohen is following all of this. And Gabe, tell us more about this. Reporting, intel officials, I would assume, do not view this as a stupid issue. It is one that has a lot in the community concerned, especially given the fact that we don't know that there's a direct parallel and connection, but we have just lost six

U.S. service members in this war days ago.

Well, Biana, one of the reasons that this is really significant is because it's the first indication that Moscow is getting involved in this conflict. Those sources telling CNN that Russia is providing this intel about the location

of American troops and assets so that Iran can specifically target them. And much of that intelligence is coming from this sophisticated satellite system that Russia has, as Iran has been seeing their military capabilities degraded day after day from all of this fighting. It is important to note that it's unclear

at this point if that intel has actually been used in any specific attacks. And we don't know, though, if Russia's involvement could be expanding when it comes to this conflict, especially after this phone call Friday between Iran's president and Russian President Vladimir Putin, who agreed that they're going to keep communicating as this conflict unfolds. The White House, for their part, they are really downplaying this story, as you mentioned. Here's what Defense Secretary Pete Higseth told CBS News about the reporting.

We know what's going on and the President has an incredible knack at knowing how to mitigate those risks. And so the American people can rest assured their commander in chief is well aware of who's talking to who and anything that shouldn't be happening, whether it's in public or back-channeled, is being confronted and confronted strongly.

The American people could therefore expect conversations with the Russians to stop this?

Well, President Trump, as people have seen, has a unique relationship with a lot of world leaders where he can get things done that other presidents, certainly Joe Biden, never could have. And through direct conversations or indirect, through him one-to- one or through his cabinet,

messages definitely can be delivered.

Does this put U.S. personnel in any more danger than they otherwise would be?

Well, no one's putting us in danger. We're putting the other guys in danger.

Press Secretary Caroline Leavitt also told reporters that if Russia is sharing intel, it's clearly not making much of a difference given given the success of US operations thus far. And President Trump also told CNN on Friday that, quote, a week ago Iran was powerful and now they have been indeed neutered. But, Biana, important to note that this administration has said over the past week that they were hoping this was going to be a four to five week

war effort, though they did acknowledge that it could last much longer. We're waiting to see if that timeline could be drawn out a bit if more countries like Russia

are drawn in. We'll be following it all. Gabe Cohen, thank you so much.

So we're just tell CNN that Russia is now providing Tehran with intelligence about the location and movements of US troops, of US ships, of US aircraft. Persons also tell us the US has intelligence suggesting that China may be getting ready to provide Iran with money, spare parts, and even missile components. CBS News got to ask Secretary Pete Hexeth specifically about Russia's reported

involvement. The average American might hear that and think that's a big and dangerous deal, is it?

Well, we're tracking everything. Our commanders are aware of everything. We have the best intelligence in the world. We're aware of who's talking to who, why they're talking to him, how accurate that information might be, how we factor that into our battle plans, our CENTCOM commander. So we know what's going on.

And the president has an incredible knack at knowing how to mitigate those risks.

Does this put U.S. personnel in any more danger than they otherwise would be?

Well, no one's putting us in danger. We're putting the other guys in danger. That's our job. So we're not concerned about that.

As for the president, well, he was at a college sports roundtable today when Fox News asked him about Russia's role. This was his answer.

What a stupid question that is to be asking at this time. We're talking about something else. Can we keep this maybe a little bit from go ahead, please

Why talk about a war

for the first time Indicating Russian involvement in this war with Iran Multiple sources familiar with the intelligence say that Russia is now giving Iran intelligence on US military targets including the locations and movements of US troops, ships, and aircraft. One person said much of that intelligence consists of Russian satellite imagery. They have better capabilities than Iran does. Siena has asked the Kremlin and the Russian embassy for comment. The state news agency TASS reports that President Putin spoke with his Iranian

counterpart on Friday. And during that call, they, quote, agreed to continue contacts. Joining me now, retired U.S. Army Colonel Peter Mansour, now chair of military history at Ohio State University. Peter, good to have you on. Great to be on, Jim.

So this is Russia giving Iran, arguably, the most sensitive intelligence when it comes to America's interests in that it affects the location of U.S. forces in the region and therefore impacts their safety. Tell us the significance of that, of Russia taking that step to become involved in this

war.

Well, my first thought is, but of course they are. I mean, this is payback for the United States providing Ukraine intelligence on the position of Russian forces and assets in the vicinity of Ukraine. So I would be astonished if Russia didn't do this. So quite frankly, this is an expected development. And like I said, it's tit for tat because we're doing the same thing in the European theater.

Well, to see the White House response to this, one might imagine a president or a White House press secretary at least taking issue with that support. But when Carolyn Leavitt was asked about it, she said it doesn't matter. Her reasoning being that the U.S. is doing so well, it doesn't matter that Russia is providing such intelligence. But we did see that U.S. forces were at least vulnerable.

You had that Iranian drone strike that killed six U.S. service members. Should the U.S. president, should the U.S. defense secretary more definitively call out Russia for this kind of help?

Sure. I mean, absolutely, you should demarche Russia, give them a diplomatic protest, and make public your concern about their involvement in the war. But like I said, you know, it would be hard, it would be hypocritical of us to say that, you know, Russia, I'm sorry, you can't support your allies when we're doing the same thing with Ukraine. In terms of what advantage it gives Iran, you know, it gives them targeting information, and that could be useful if they have the assets necessary to strike

those targets. It's going to be hard to parse out whether any particular strike was was made possible by Russian intelligence but we can probably assume was was made possible by Russian intelligence but we can probably assume that they were.