Russia has reportedly provided technical assistance for an Iranian supersonic missile programme aimed at developing sustained high-speed cruise missile capability, according to the Financial Times.
The newspaper said the covert C430L programme began in 2023 and involves Russian specialists helping Iran develop ramjet propulsion technology. However, it found no evidence that Iran has deployed an operational Russian-assisted missile.
Documents reviewed by the Financial Times indicated that Russian state arms exporter Rosoboronexport arranged cooperation involving NPO Mashinostroyenia, a major Russian missile manufacturer.
Russian engineers reportedly travelled to Iran and examined information from Iranian propulsion and flight testing, according to the documents.
Fabian Hinz, a senior analyst at Conflict Armament Research, described the reported cooperation as a transfer of strategically sensitive technology that Iran had sought for decades.
A June 2026 Rosoboronexport letter cited by the newspaper indicated that technical cooperation continued after the outbreak of the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran.
Read: Russia-Iran Missile Program Aided Tehran’s Supersonic Push
Iran has previously developed ballistic and cruise missiles and publicly displayed a domestically developed ramjet engine in 2019. Iranian state media said in 2023 that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps had begun testing a prototype supersonic cruise missile.
Russia, Rosoboronexport, NPO Mashinostroyenia and Iran did not respond to the Financial Times’ requests for comment.
