British Defense Secretary: Vladimir Putin's Invisible Hand Appears to Be Helping Tehran

Vladimir Putin's "invisible hand" is likely helping Iran respond to Donald Trump's war, British Defense Secretary John Healey has said, after it emerged that drones linked to Iran had struck a base in Iraq housing British troops.

No British soldiers were injured in the strike.

However, John Healey said that attacks by Iranian forces on Middle East targets "bear the marks" of the way Russian troops operate in their war against Ukraine.

This includes changing the way Iran uses its drones.

Tehran has sold thousands of "Shahed" drones to Russia in the early months of Putin's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

The Russians, with Iranian help, developed their own version of the drone, and now the lessons they learned from the fighting in Ukraine appear to be helping the Iranians in their response to waves of US and Israeli strikes against Iran.

"No one would be surprised to assume that behind some of Iran's tactics, and perhaps some of their capabilities, is the "invisible hand of Putin", John Healy told reporters during a visit to Britain's Permanent Joint Headquarters (PJHQ) at Northwood, the main base responsible for military operations abroad.

The defence secretary said this likely link to Russia was due "not least to the fact that the only world leader currently benefiting from the extremely high prices of oil, is Putin“.

He was referring to the surge in oil prices after Iran used its control of the Strait of Hormuz off its coast to block one of the world's most important sea lanes.