The US government warns: Wagner Group could support Hezbollah or Iran with weapons

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The US government fears that Russia’s Wagner mercenaries could support Hezbollah or Iran with military air defense equipment. Information from the U.S. government indicated that the Wagner Group was “preparing to provide air defense capabilities to Hezbollah or Iran at the direction of the Russian government,” National Security Council Communications Director John Kirby said in Washington on Tuesday.

The US would keep a close eye on whether the Wagner group actually supplies military equipment. Kirby warned that they were prepared to expand U.S. sanctions against Russia.

Iran could supply Russia with ballistic missiles

In light of international sanctions, Russia and Iran have expanded their economic and military cooperation. The US government fears that Iran may provide Russia with ballistic missiles for use in Ukraine in the future. In return for this support, Russia has offered Tehran unprecedented defense cooperation, Kirby said.

The Shia militia Hezbollah, which operates in Lebanon, has ties to the Islamist Hamas in the Gaza Strip. It is considered Iran’s most important non-state ally and is part of the self-proclaimed ‘Axis of Resistance’, a front of militias aimed at fighting Iran’s arch-enemy Israel. Since the start of the Gaza war following the Hamas massacre in Israel on October 7, there have been repeated clashes between the Israeli army and Hezbollah on the Israel-Lebanon border. (SDA)

Source: Blick