"Strengthening air defense capabilities is clearly an urgent priority for Iran at the moment," expert Hongda Fan told Newsweek.

US Senator Lindsey Graham has warned that Trump is planning tough economic action against countries still importing oil from Russia, naming India, China, and Brazil as top targets.

Russia sought to do this naval drill primarily to show it is still interested in joint cooperation with Iran. Iran and Russia began a naval exercise on Monday.

Russia’s got one trading partner left that still writes big checks:- China. And those checks just got a hell of a lot bigger.

Iran and Russia have a security agreement although Moscow did not come to Tehran's help when it was under attack by Israel and the United States

Weeks after his country was battered by waves of Israeli strikes and the US bombed three of its prized nuclear facilities, Iran’s foreign minister came to a gathering of regional diplomats in China this week with a simple ask.

Officials in Tokyo released their Defense of Japan 2025 white paper this week with findings the international community is facing its greatest risk of conflict since World War II. The paper pointed to Russia,

"Cooperation among China, Russia, and India not only aligns with the respective interests of the three countries, but also contributes to regional and global peace, security, stability, and progress," the spokesperson, Lin Jian, told a regular briefing in Beijing.