CRUMBLE PIE

Trump’s Putin Claim Crumbles as Secret Deal Revealed

Bombshell new details of how the tyrant has helped Tehran have emerged.

Donald Trump’s claims that Vladimir Putin is doing “very little, if anything” to help Iran have been blown apart by fresh details of Moscow’s support for Tehran’s war machine.

A leading Russian defense company signed an agreement to produce 90 advanced guided missile launchers for Iran in 2024 and 2025, according to commercial documents obtained by the Financial Times.

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The export order was for the very same systems used by Russian forces, which have in turn long relied on Iranian-made drones for attacks on Ukrainian targets.

The deal shows how Moscow and Tehran have deepened their military ties since Putin launched his full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, despite Russia’s army struggling to keep pace with the demands of that conflict.

Trump has repeatedly dismissed claims that the Kremlin is helping Iran as he struggles to bring an end to his war with the Islamist regime.

And his administration has increasingly handed Russia concessions in talks to end the conflict in Ukraine even as evidence of Moscow’s support for Tehran has continued to grow.

Documents seen by the FT do not confirm whether Russian weapons manufacturer Vympel ultimately delivered the launcher systems to Iranian forces.

But the newspaper previously reported that the Kremlin has also helped Tehran develop advanced missiles, sold it air defense systems, and even shared intel that could be relevant to nuclear weaponry.

And experts have been clear that the program developing advanced missile systems in particular would have required “political clearance from the very top in Russia.”

Trump’s failure to end the “few-week” war he started with Iran in February helped deliver his party a historic walloping in Tuesday’s midterm elections.

Voter fury over the eight-month conflict and its impact on soaring unaffordability saw Democrats sweep the House and Senate in a blue tsunami that promises to hobble the president for the remainder of his second term.

Trump rode to victory in the 2024 polls on a pledge to be the “peace president” who would end foreign military entanglements and bring an end to the war in Ukraine within 24 hours of retaking office.

It has now been 653 days since that initial window elapsed, with little to no advancement in negotiations for a lasting peace between Moscow and Kyiv.

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Trump has instead shown growing warmth toward the Putin regime and a willingness to hear out its hardline demands while burning bridges with the U.S.’ nominal ally in the conflict.

He called for President Volodymyr Zelensky’s ouster last month as U.S. officials were accused of slowing down military systems vital to Ukraine’s frontline defense and threatening to withhold intelligence if Kyiv did not agree to stop bombing Russian energy infrastructure.

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Those moves came after Trump signed a deal to buy 2 million tons of Russian diesel in the vain hope it would buy some voter goodwill over gas prices driven up by his war with Iran.

His administration is also in talks to lift sanctions on a multibillion-dollar Russian investment group involved in that deal, enter a separate agreement with Russian oil giant Lukoil, advance a Russian-backed natural gas project in Alaska, and push Europe to buy more Russian gas.

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Democratic control of the House and Senate after the GOP’s stunning midterm defeat on Tuesday will make it harder for Trump to further threaten Ukraine with a withdrawal of American support unless Zelensky accepts a peace settlement favorable to Russia.

But the Kremlin still sees a weakened Trump as a strategic opportunity to push for even more concessions, Bloomberg reported on Tuesday.

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Russian officials believe the president’s appetite for lucrative deals may stop him from objecting if Moscow then increases its pressure on Kyiv with intensifying attacks on Ukrainian energy systems ahead of a bitter fifth winter at war.

Those attacks would then strengthen Putin’s hand at the negotiating table, with the next round of talks due to take place later this month.

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The Daily Beast has contacted the White House for comment on this story.

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