Growing fears in UK and US of a secret nuclear deal between Iran and Russia

The UK and the US have reportedly discussed their shared concern that Russia provided nuclear secrets to Iran inexchange for ballistic missiles for its Ukraine war.

Prime minister Keir Starmer and US president Joe Biden discussed the fact that Iran and Russia are strengthening their military cooperation during a summit in Washington on Friday, which also covered other key issues around Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine, including Kyiv’s use of Western long-range missiles to hit targets deep inside Russia.

Mr Starmer and Mr Biden discussed intelligence pointing to a deal that would see the Kremlin providing Iran nuclear technology, sources on the British side told The Times.

If confirmed, such a deal would be especially alarming as Tehran is advancing itsprogramme of uranium enrichment – a step towards developing a nuclear weapon.

Ukraine’s Western allies have claimed thatIran has supplied short-range ballistic missiles to Russia and the weapons would likely be used in the war against Ukraine in the coming weeks. The United States, Britain, France and Germany hit Tehran with more sanctions, condemning its “escalatory” move.

Iran has denied supplying weapons to Russia, rejecting the claims as “completely baseless and false”. Russia has not denied the reports directly, instead responding by calling Iran an “important partner” and saying their cooperation was only deepening.

Early last week the US secretary of state AntonyBlinken told reporters in the UK at a press conference alongside foreign minister David Lammy that Russia had recently acquired new ballistic missiles from Iran.

He warned about Russia sharing secret nuclear data with Iran – a factor that could have implications for both Israel and the US.

“Russia is sharing