August 11, 2022 | Tablet

Totalitarians Inc.

Why is Joe Biden alternately ignoring and funding the ever-closer alliance between Iran and Putin?
August 11, 2022 | Tablet

Totalitarians Inc.

Why is Joe Biden alternately ignoring and funding the ever-closer alliance between Iran and Putin?

Are Russia and Iran forging a strategic alliance?

Vladimir Putin’s recent trip to Tehran for a trilateral summit with Iranian leaders and Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan suggests so. As does Russia’s use of imported Iranian drones, based on stolen U.S. technology. As does the $10 billion role being openly played by Rosatom, the Russian state nuclear company, in helping Iran build its nuclear weapons program.

Yet the Biden administration prefers to see things differently. Ignoring large sections of observable reality, President Joe Biden continues to rely on Russia as a good faith mediator to negotiate a return to the failed Iran nuclear deal of 2015—better known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). This reliance requires the White House to dismiss the obvious fact that Russia’s mediation is really advocacy on Iran’s behalf, which in turn helps to fuel Russia’s war machine in Ukraine and make a mockery of U.S. sanctions against Putin. Yet the convergence of Tehran’s and Moscow’s interests does not translate into a full-fledged alliance, many experts say.

Issues:

Issues:

Iran Russia

Topics:

Topics:

Aleppo Ali Khamenei Barack Obama Bashar al-Assad China Cold War Emanuele Ottolenghi Europe France Germany Iran Iraq Islamic republic Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Israel Joe Biden Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action Kremlin Kurds Lebanon Middle East Moscow Qasem Soleimani Quds Force Recep Tayyip Erdoğan Ruhollah Khomeini Russia Sunni Islam Syria Tehran The National Interest Turkey Ukraine United Kingdom United States United States Department of the Treasury Venezuela Vladimir Putin Washington White House