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The Iran Conflict Is Becoming a Russia-Ukraine Proxy War

Both Russia and Ukraine are trying to use the U.S.-Israeli war against Iran to their own advantage. With Russia profiting from the war while backing Iran, and Ukraine arming the Gulf states, the Middle East has become a new front in the war between Kyiv and Moscow.

By MAX BOOT

Council on Foreign Relations
March 30, 2026

It has become common for major conflicts to become proxy wars, with outside powers intervening to help their friends and hurt their foes. The Soviet Union, for example, supplied North Korea and North Vietnam in wars against the United States. The United States returned the favor by supplying the Afghan mujahideen during the 1980s in their war against the Red Army.

The Iran war is no different. Both Russia and Ukraine are trying to use the Middle East conflict, which pits Israel and the United States against Iran, to their own advantage.