Three Western and regional sources said that Iran is mediating ongoing secret talks between Russia and Yemen's Houthi movement to transfer anti-ship missiles to the group, a development that highlights growing ties between Tehran and Moscow.

Seven sources said that Russia had not yet decided to transfer the Yakhont missiles, also known as the P-800 Onyx, which experts said would allow the armed group to strike ships in the Red Sea with greater precision and increase the threat to US and European warships that provide protection for shipping traffic.< /p>

In July, the Wall Street Journal reported that Russia was considering sending missiles. Press reports did not talk about Iranian mediation before.

The Houthi group has launched numerous drone and missile attacks on ships on important shipping lanes in the Red Sea since November to show support for the Palestinians in the face of Israel's war of annihilation in the Gaza Strip.

These attacks caused the sinking of at least two ships and the seizure of a third, disrupting global maritime trade by forcing shipping companies to divert ships, according to sources in the sector. This raised insurance costs for ships sailing in the Red Sea. In response, the United States and Britain struck sites in Yemen, but these strikes did not succeed in stopping the Houthi attacks.

Two regional officials familiar with the talks said that the Houthis and the Russians met in Tehran at least twice this year, and that talks are underway to provide dozens of missiles, with a range of approximately 300 kilometers, and other meetings are expected to be held in Tehran in the coming weeks.

Russia previously supplied Hezbollah, which is allied with Iran, with Yakhont missiles. One source said that the talks began during the era of the late Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, who died in a helicopter crash in May.

A Western intelligence source said: “Russia is negotiating with the Houthis regarding the transfer of Yakhont hypersonic anti-ship missiles... The Iranians are mediating the talks but do not want to sign them.” Neither Iran's mission to the United Nations nor the Russian Ministry of Defense responded to requests for comment.

Mohamed Abdel Salam, the official spokesman for the Houthi group, told Reuters: “We have no knowledge of what you mentioned.” A senior US official declined to name the specific systems that could be transferred, but confirmed that Russia was discussing supplying the Houthis with missiles, and described this development as “deeply disturbing.”

A US Defense Department official said that any efforts to strengthen the Houthis' capabilities would "undermine the common international interest in global freedom of navigation and stability in the Red Sea and the broader Middle East."

(Reuters, Al-Arabi Al-Jadeed)