Iranian MP Claims Russia Signaled Readiness to Deliver Nuclear Weapons Amid NPT Withdrawal Talks

ERBIL (Kurdistan24) – Amid the rubble of a war-torn Ukraine and the shifting geopolitical sands of the Middle East, a chilling new narrative is emerging: the military integration between Moscow and Tehran has arguably transcended conventional arms trade to approach the nuclear threshold. While a senior Iranian lawmaker has startlingly claimed that Russia is prepared to transfer nuclear weapons to the Islamic Republic, a sophisticated "shadow market" is already fueling lethal attacks on European soil, exposing the depth of a partnership that Western sanctions have failed to dismantle.

This dual threat—of a functioning illicit conventional arms economy and a potential nuclear proliferation pact—signals a dangerous evolution in the alliance against the West.

The alarming assertions regarding nuclear transfer were brought to light by Kamran Ghadanfari, a member of the Iranian Parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Committee.

In a report published by Ettelaat Online, Ghadanfari cited Dmitry Medvedev, the Deputy Chairman of the Security Council of the Russian Federation, as signaling a readiness to arm Iran atomically.

Speaking to the Iran24 News Network, the MP interpreted Medvedev’s remarks as an indirect but clear message: contrary to the belief that Tehran does not possess atomic weapons, there are nations willing to provide such capabilities. "In other words, he indirectly said that we are ready to give atomic weapons to Iran," Ghadanfari stated, suggesting a move that would irrevocably alter the global balance of power.

However, while the nuclear claims represent a potential future escalation, the operational reality of this alliance is already inflicting devastation.

According to a detailed analysis published by The Hill on Sunday, this partnership has birthed a resilient black market for war that is immune to traditional economic restrictions. The lethality of this cooperation was starkly illustrated on Oct. 5, 2025, when Russia launched a massive wave of 549 drones and missiles at Lviv, located just 35 miles from Ukraine’s border with Poland. 

The barrage killed five people and left tens of thousands without electricity. As noted by Delaney Soliday in The Hill, while those weapons were likely manufactured in an arms factory 500 miles east of Moscow, they were the product of a transnational assembly line: built using Iranian blueprints, Russian raw materials, and illicitly acquired Western technology.

The roots of this conventional dominance lie in a $1.75 billion deal inked in 2023, which allowed Russia to import thousands of Iranian Shahed uncrewed aerial vehicles (UAVs) while simultaneously developing the indigenous capabilities to produce them on Russian soil.

The Hill reports that within three years, Moscow’s defense-industrial base successfully domesticated up to 90 percent of the manufacturing process at its facility in Alabuga. This collaboration has evolved rapidly, leading to the engineering of Russian jet-powered variants of the Shahed-238, custom-made for kamikaze attacks on Ukrainian infrastructure.

This successful technology transfer validates Ghadanfari’s assertion to Ettelaat Online that powerful allies like Russia are actively strengthening Iran’s military posture against the United States.

Yet, this military independence is not total. Both nations rely on a "shadow defense-industrial economy" to source key components they cannot produce themselves, such as advanced sensors and microcomputers.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky reported that the October 5 barrage contained more than 100,000 "foreign-made parts," including microprocessors manufactured by American companies. The Hill investigation revealed that between 2022 and early 2024, more than 200,000 illicit shipments of microelectronics entered Russia.

This massive evasion of sanctions is facilitated by networks like the one run by Mohammad Hossein Shamkhani, which the U.S. Treasury sanctioned in July 2025. This network utilizes a fleet of ships based out of the United Arab Emirates to smuggle dual-use components and oil, generating billions in profit and moving goods across the Caspian Sea—a route that cemented the Iran-Russia drone cooperation.

The implications of this "shadow market" extend far beyond the Ukrainian front lines, reaching deep into the Middle East’s own volatile conflicts.

The Hill highlights a critical geopolitical shift: following the fall of the Assad regime in Syria in December 2024, Iran lost its primary overland smuggling route to proxies like Hezbollah and Hamas.

Consequently, Tehran is likely seeking Russia’s help to revive these supply lines, leveraging the fact that the Russian military maintains access to two naval bases on the Syrian coast. This logistical reliance aligns with Ghadanfari’s comments about the "12-day war," where he claimed Iran successfully stood against a Western coalition. 

The MP’s confidence appears bolstered by the knowledge that this Russian-Iranian axis has successfully created an alternative economy to fund and supply their military ambitions.

Ghadanfari’s interview also touched upon the diplomatic cover for this military expansion. Discussing Iran's potential withdrawal from the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), he told Iran24 that such a move would have "no particular effect" and would merely stop "espionage inspections" of Iran's nuclear centers.

He argued that withdrawing would make Iran's activities "safer" by hiding them from enemies. Crucially, he claimed that China and Russia would not oppose this withdrawal.

He described a recent military parade at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation as a "demonstration of existence" against the United States, asserting that China views a nuclear-armed Iran not as a threat, but as a necessary guarantor of its own national security against American "siege" tactics.

He further claimed that North Korea has threatened Israel with a nuclear response should Tel Aviv attack Iran, painting a picture of a solidified anti-Western bloc.

The convergence of these reports from Ettelaat Online and The Hill describes a scenario where traditional sanctions have failed to interrupt the behavior of Moscow and Tehran.

As noted by Soliday, the restrictions imposed after the 2022 invasion of Ukraine taught both nations that when denied access to Western markets, they could simply create their own. This self-sustained shadow economy is now capable of fueling joint military technology development, from jet-powered drones to potentially nuclear-capable delivery systems.

Ghadanfari concluded his remarks by dismissing any notion of a rift between Tehran and its great-power patrons. "It's not that [China] is in love with the Islamic Republic, but because of its own national interests and security, it needs Iran's military capability," he said.

With Russia potentially offering the ultimate strategic deterrent in the form of nuclear weapons, and with a proven supply chain capable of sustaining long-term conventional warfare as seen in Lviv, the "coalition against the United States" described by the Iranian MP appears to be moving from political theory to lethal practice.

This article was updated on Tuesday, Nov. 25, 2025, at 02:21 PM.