Russia provided targeting data to members of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, or IRGC, who were embedded with the Houthis in Yemen to help attack Western ships in the Red Sea with missiles and drones earlier in 2024, The Wall Street Journal reported on Oct. 24.

On June 5, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Russia was considering supplying weapons to "regions of the world" where they could be used to strike Western targets in response to Western support for Ukraine. Iran has long supported Russia's war efforts in Ukraine, most notably by delivering hundreds of one-way attack drones, and, most recently, ballistic missiles that were allegedly first supplied in September after months of warnings by the European Union and the United States.