Russia has secretly helped Iran develop supersonic cruise missile technology that experts say could give Tehran a new way to threaten US Navy vessels in the Middle East, the Financial Times reported, citing leaked Russian correspondence, travel records and military patents.

Axar.az informs, citing Iran International, that the program, codenamed C430L, began in 2023 and continued during this year's war with the United States and Israel, the FT said.

Its main focus is a ramjet propulsion system that would allow a cruise missile to sustain flight at several times the speed of sound, reducing the time available for US and allied defenses to detect and intercept it.

“For the Iranians, this would give them a qualitatively new strategic weapon system that could threaten US Navy vessels,” Jim Lamson, a former CIA military analyst focused on Iran, told the FT.

Iran has built and flight-tested the propulsion system, but there is no evidence that a Russian-assisted supersonic cruise missile has entered service, the newspaper said.

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