In the quiet corridors of state arms diplomacy, Russia and Iran have been constructing something that transcends a simple weapons deal — a transfer of knowledge that could redraw the boundaries of power in the Persian Gulf. Beginning in 2023, Moscow's most accomplished missile engineers began sharing the secrets of ramjet propulsion with Tehran through a covert programme called C430L, offering Iran the means to build supersonic cruise missiles capable of outpacing the defences that have long anchored American naval dominance in the region. Such arrangements rarely emerge from nowhere; they ref