Russian military experts visited Iran on two occasions in 2024 as Tehran looked to expand its cooperation with Moscow while its network of resistance suffered devastating blows amid war with Israel.

“Russian missile specialists don’t just appear out of the blue,” Behnam Ben Taleblu, senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told Fox News Digital.

“Alarm bells should be going off in Washington and Jerusalem,” Taleblu added.

Trump withdrew from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, also known as the Iran nuclear deal, during his first term in 2018 and reapplied harsh economic sanctions. The Biden administration had initially looked at re-engaging with Iran on the nuclear issue upon taking office, but on-again-off-again talks went nowhere, complicated by Iran’s domestic politics and its role in supporting its terror groups in the region.

Putting a halt to Iran’s nuclear program could be an issue where the U.S. and Russia find common ground.

U.S. and Iranian officials attend the Iran nuclear talks at a hotel in Vienna, Austria, on June 30, 2015. (Pool/Siamek Ebrahimi/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)

Since returning to the White House, President Trump has sought to improve relations with Russia, which were mostly cut off by the Biden administration after Russia invaded Ukraine. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and U.S. officials met Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in Saudi Arabia last month and agreed to improve relations, expand economic ties, and ultimately bring an end to the war in Ukraine.