North Korea Keeping Iran At Arm’s Length, Hoping To Improve Ties With Trump

When the Ukraine war began over four years ago, North Korea only deepened its relations and defense cooperation with Moscow. Later into the conflict, it even sent thousands of troops to assist Russian military and security forces – and an undisclosed number of DPRK troops died or suffered wounds while fighting Ukraine.

When it comes to Iran, many pundits assumed Pyongyang might also do something similar in defense of Tehran, give the Middle East nation and fellow ‘rogue’ ally is under US and Israeli bombs; however, there are signs North Korea is actually distancing itself in this case.

Seoul’s National Intelligence Service (NIS) sees no evidence that North Korea has sent weapons or supplies to Tehran since since Trump’s Operation Epic Fury began, and is even remaining far away from such a move.

Lawmaker Park Sun-won, who attended a closed-door briefing held by the NIS, described Sunday that North Korea is not at all rushing to the Islamic Republic’s aid.

This is also consistent with the Kim Jong Un government’s public statements on the crisis, which have by and large been mute:

While Iran’s other allies China and Russia have frequently issued statements on the US-Israel war on Iran, North Korea’s Foreign Ministry has only issued two toned-down statements so far, said the NIS.

While Pyongyang did condemn the US and Israeli attacks on Iran as illegal, it did not issue public condolences after Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s death or send a congratulatory message when Khamenei’s son, Mojtaba Khamenei, succeeded him.

The spy agency said Pyongyang is likely adopting this cautious approach to position it for a new diplomatic chapter with the US once the Middle East conflict subsides, said Park.

Trump actually mentioned North Korea several times in Monday remarks from the White House on the Iran situation. He charged that a certain past president failed to act properly to prevent Pyongyang from going nuclear – and that the last several presided did as well.

He concluded that Kim Jong Un would not have nuclear weapons if that job was done right. The said that they are afraid to take “strong action”.

Trump:

If a certain president did his job, North Korea would not have nuclear weapons right now. pic.twitter.com/Ib7jVqw9pt

— Clash Report (@clashreport) April 6, 2026

It could be that Pyongyang is staying on the sidelines, and not offering direct support to its ally the Islamic Republic, given the obvious mismatch in military strength as the Iranians get pummeled by superior US aerial firepower.

In the case of Russa-Ukraine it is the opposite – where North Korea is on the side of the militarily stronger power and so perhaps feels more at east supporting its ally Moscow in such a context.