Worrying Alliances

"[Russia is offering Iran] an unprecedented level of military and technical support that is transforming their relationship into a full-fledged defence partnership."

"These fighter planes [Sukhoi Su-35 fighter jets] will significantly strengthen Iran's air force relative to its regional neighbours."

White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby

"Iran is now one of Russia's top military backers."

"Their sordid deals have seen the Iranian regime send hundreds of drones to Moscow which have been used to attack Ukraine's critical infrastructure and kill civilians."

"In return, Russia is offering military and technical support to the Iranian regime, which will increase the risk it poses in our partners in the Middle East and to international security."

U.K. Foreign Secretary James Cleverly

"What we are seeing is – frustrated on the battlefield, Russia has resorted to destroying Ukraine's critical and energy infrastructure from afar, causing immense suffering to civilians as we heard just three days ago, and defying the international community's call to end its aggression."

"It is Russia that has cynically called for this meeting, alleging an illicit conspiracy of weapons transfers from Ukraine. When in fact, as others around this table have noted, it is Russia that is complicit in Iran's illegal transfer of unmanned aerial vehicles to Russia."

Richard Mills, U.S. deputy ambassador to the U.N.

Police officers look at collected fragments of the Russian rockets that hit Kharkiv, in Kharkiv, Ukraine, Dec. 3, 2022.  AP

Russia is in the crosshairs of the Biden administration, accused of making alliances to provide advanced military assistance to Iran. Air defence systems, helicopters and fighter jets to be made available to the Islamic Republic of Iran constituting in part deepening cooperation between the two at a time when Tehran has been providing drones in support of Russia's violent conflict imposed on Ukraine. 

These declarations by the U.S. constitute part of an effort to continue to deepen Russia's global isolation in the wake of intelligence reporting that Russia and Iran were consulting on installing a drone assembly line in Russia to accommodate the Ukraine conflict's needs of Russian attacks more efficiently. In addition to which Russia was training Iranian pilots on the Bukhoi Su-35 fighter.

This dismaying but inevitable collaboration between Russia and Iran offers the U.S. an opportunity to impress on Saudi Arabia the threat contained to its own well-being after the U.S. accused Saudi Arabia of siding with Russia by moving toward production cuts by the OPEC+ cartel to benefit Russia by increasing the price of oil, thus further funding Moscow's war in Ukraine. A tangled web that also benefits Iran, Saudi Arabia's nemesis, funding the Houthis in Yemen.

Another message is getting through to U.S. Intelligence that Iran has supplied hundreds of attack drones over the summer, and is now considering the sale of hundreds of ballistic missiles to Russia as well, effectively re-supplying Moscow's exhausted missile store capacity. North Korea has also become a potential source for Russia of artillery. 

There have been repeated accusations by the Kremlin that NATO allies have themselves become a party to the conflict through their provision to Ukraine of weaponry, troop training and providing military intelligence to the Ukrainian military enabling them to attack Russian forces. "Speaking about a disarming strike, [the U.S. concept of a 'preemptive' strike], maybe it's worth thinking about adopting the ideas developed by our U.S. counterparts, their ideas of ensuring their security", offered Russian President Vladimir Putin 

 

A Sukhoi Su-35 military fighter jet at the International Military-Technical Forum at Kubinka military training ground in Moscow, Russia, on Aug. 18, 2022. Pavel Pavlov/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

"If things go wrong, they can go horribly wrong. It is a terrible war in Ukraine. It is also a war that can become a full-fledged war that spreads into a major war between NATO and Russia."

"We are working on that every day to avoid that."

"There is no doubt that a full-fledged war is a possibility.  [It is important to avoid a conflict] that involves more countries in Europe and becomes a full-fledged war in Europe."

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg