Thanks to the Biden administration’s weak, or absent, leadership, Russia and the regime of Iran’s mullahs have become closer, more emboldened and more empowered than ever.
The two bedfellows, the authoritarian regimes of Russia and Iran, are, thanks to the Biden administration, running the Iran nuclear talks, while the US waits out in the hall. Russia’s chief negotiator, Mikhail Ulyanov, earlier this year praised his Iranian “colleagues”:
“I am absolutely sincere in this regard when I say that Iran got much more than it could expect [from the Biden administration]. Our Chinese friends were also very efficient and useful as co-negotiators.”
Ulyanov also said that the Iranian leaders “are fighting for [their] national interest like lions. They fight for every comma, every word, and as a rule, quite successfully.”
Russia, of course, is freely trading with Iran, in spite of sanctions against both countries. According to Bloomberg:
“Russia said it’s strengthening trade with Iran, boosting the economies of both nations as they contend with heavy US sanctions. We’re on track to raise trade, economic, logistics, investment, financial, banking cooperation, despite the unprecedented pressure that Russia is experiencing, Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said at a meeting with businesses in Tehran…. Trade between Russia and Iran rose by more than 10% in the first quarter…. Trade between the nations rose 81% to a record $3.3 billion ….but Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi said that level was ‘not acceptable’ and vowed to increase two-way commerce to $10 billion a year.”
In addition to evading sanctions with complete impunity, Russia and the ruling mullahs of Iran are also ratcheting up their military cooperation in plain sight. The Iranian regime continues to provide Russia with military drones, which have inflicted significant damage on Ukraine — the first time Iranian weapons have been deployed on European soil. According to the Wall Street Journal:
“Russia has inflicted serious damage on Ukrainian forces with recently introduced Iranian drones, in its first wide-scale deployment of a foreign weapons system since the war began, Ukrainian commanders say.”
Russia’s use of Iranian drones has killed and wounded Ukrainians. It has proven extremely difficult to shoot down Iran’s drones. They are “barely visible on radars; it’s a relatively small aerial target that flies mainly at a low altitude” according to Yurii Ihnat, the spokesman for the Ukraine Air Force Command.
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