Officials Say Russia Was Feeding Iran Where Our Ships and Planes Are

By Rachel Hurley March 6th, 2026 Updated September 29th, 2026

While Trump was busy telling anyone who would listen that he and Putin had a great relationship, Russia was - according to U.S. officials - feeding Iran the locations of American warships and aircraft so they could shoot at them.

yep.

According to three officials who spoke to the Washington Post, Russia has been passing Iran the locations of U.S. military targets in the Middle East since the war with Iran. Not vague support. Not diplomatic cover. Actual targeting data - where the ships are, where the planes are - handed over to the country currently firing drones and missiles at our troops.

One official described it as “a fairly comprehensive effort.” Comprehensive. For the country whose leader Donald Trump has spent the better part of two years treating like a potential business partner.

This is the same Putin who got Trump to spend months pressuring Ukraine to accept a peace plan Russia’s own envoy helped write - one that senators said Marco Rubio called “a wish list of the Russians.” Rubio denied it. The same Putin who smiled and agreed to various ceasefire gestures while continuing to bomb Ukrainian civilians and never actually stopping the war. Trump’s team was so eager to please him that one of his envoys, Steve Witkoff, reportedly coached a Putin aide on how to pitch the deal to Trump. Coached him. On how to talk to Trump. And now we find out that Putin is also moonlighting as Iran’s intelligence service.

Six American soldiers are dead. Army reservists from Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, Florida, California - Capt. Cody Khork, Sgt. 1st Class Noah Tietjens, Sgt. 1st Class Nicole Amor, Sgt. Declan Coady, Maj. Jeffrey O’Brien, and Chief Warrant Officer Robert Marzan. They were killed on March 1st when an Iranian drone hit their operations center at a civilian port in Kuwait. Military officials told CBS the only protection was concrete walls - nothing overhead. Two of them said there was no American drone defense at the port. Some of the soldiers had been moved off the main base the week before because the military thought dispersing them would be safer. The drone found them anyway.

You wanna guess how? Nobody’s confirmed Russia helped with this one, but analysts told the Post that Russian intel would fit the pattern of Iran’s strikes - including on temporary structures like the one in Kuwait.

Iran’s own ability to locate American forces had been degraded since the start of the operation, according to officials. Someone was filling that gap. Russia has years of battlefield targeting experience from Ukraine - they’ve spent three years refining exactly this kind of intelligence work. And as Carnegie Endowment expert Dara Massicot told the Post, Iran is “making very precise hits” and “going after command and control.”

If you’re keeping score: Trump launched a war on Iran without a congressional declaration, without a formal vote, without telling the American people what the endgame looks like - and his guy in the Kremlin, the one he’s been lavishing with diplomatic goodwill for more than a year, is quietly helping the other side target our troops, according to U.S. officials.

There’s a bipartisan War Powers Resolution that would have required Trump to get congressional approval before continuing military action in Iran. It failed in the House Thursday by seven votes - 212 to 219. A similar resolution failed in the Senate. Most Republicans voted to let Trump keep doing whatever he wants.

House Speaker Mike Johnson stood in front of cameras and said “we’re not at war right now,” which is an impressive thing to say out loud when six Americans are in body bags and many are saying they are currently hiding more casualties.

Trump will not say anything about Russia doing this. He won’t sanction them. He hasn’t said a word about confronting Putin. When a reporter asked about it, he called it “a stupid question.” He will not even acknowledge the obvious conflict between “Putin is my guy and we’re doing deals” and “Putin is helping Iran kill Americans.”

The people who told you Trump would be tougher on our adversaries than the last guy - the people who said he was a dealmaker, a hardass, a guy who commanded respect on the world stage - are very quiet right now.

Sources

Correction, September 28th, 2026: This post first said Putin was feeding Iran the GPS coordinates of American warships and aircraft - three U.S. officials told the Washington Post that Russia was passing Iran their locations. It quoted Trump saying he and Putin were “closer than ever” to a deal - the sources behind this post don’t carry that quote, so it’s out. It said Russia’s own negotiators pushed the Ukraine peace plan as a “wish list” - senators said Marco Rubio called it “a wish list of the Russians,” and Rubio denied it. And it said the House vote failed on Wednesday - it was Thursday.

Update, September 28th, 2026: The headline and a few lines now say who says so - the U.S. officials who talked to the Washington Post and the military officials who talked to CBS - the Carnegie expert is now quoted exactly, the Kuwait lines no longer suggest anyone has confirmed Russia helped with that strike, Trump’s “stupid question” answer is in, and the NPR link works again.