Putin’s Iran Play Raises Stakes in Already-Tense Region

On Monday, two chronically bad actors got together in Moscow for a chat. Now, that's a statement one could have made thousands of times in Russia's history, but in this case, it was in the middle of the ongoing Operation Epic Fury, and the two characters were Russia's Tsar Vladimir Putin and Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, who were meeting up to pledge mutual support.

Russian President Vladimir Putin hosted Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi in Moscow on Monday, with the two countries reaffirming their deep ties and pledging to work together amid Tehran’s war with the U.S. and Israel.
Putin said Moscow “intends to maintain” its strategic relations with Iran, Russian state-owned media TASS reported, adding that Russia is ready to do everything in its power to achieve peace in the Middle East.

There was, apparently, no mention of Russia's war with Ukraine, which is consuming Russia's young men, equipment, and munitions like a hungry wolf consumes rabbits. That's what makes this an interesting moment for this glad-handing; it's not clear exactly what Russia can do to help Tehran at this late stage in the game.

Unless, of course (and let's say this very quietly), Russia is offering to sell Iran a nuke or two. Russia has problems a'plenty, but they still have their nuclear arsenal.

Putin also mentioned receiving a message from a guy for whom we have no proof of life:

Putin also said he had received a message from Iran’s Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei, who reportedly was injured and disfigured from the initial U.S. and Israeli attacks against Iran’s leadership. Those attacks killed Khamenei’s father and the previous Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei.
The Russian leader asked Araghchi to convey to the supreme leader his “gratitude for this message and best wishes for his health and well-being.”

Wishing anyone in Iran's civil government health and well-being may be a bit of a stretch just now - and Mr. Araghchi may soon have cause to wish he'd stayed in Moscow.

Tehran Snubs U.S. Delegation, Demands End to Blockade As Islamabad Talks Stall Again

Here's the thing: President Trump has consistently and insistently demanded, above all else, the end of Iran's nuclear weapons program. But Russia is already a nuclear power. Russia and Iran have been partners in crime for some time now, even back to when Tehran's vicious cabal of 7th-century barbarians was dealing, not with Russia, but with the Soviet Union. It's something of an odd alliance, between a savage Islamic theocracy and the officially atheist Soviet Union or, nowadays, the mostly secular Russia. But nations have no permanent friends, only permanent interests, and while Iran sees the United States as an enemy and has done so since 1979, Russia these days sees America, perhaps not as an enemy, but as a rival - perhaps an adversary.

Here's the onion:

Araghchi said relations between Moscow and Tehran represent a “strategic partnership at the highest level” and will continue to develop “regardless of circumstances,” TASS reported.

This is a strategic partnership between a barbaric theocracy that is on the verge of being defenestrated, and an aging former superpower that can't even manage to knock off a much smaller, much lower population, former Soviet satellite state. But Russia still has, at least count, over 4,300 active nuclear warheads. Over 1,700 of those are currently deployed or deployable, in intercontinental ballistic missiles, submarine-launched ballistic missiles, and at bomber bases. Even one or two of those could cause American forces in the Persian Gulf, as well as Israel, to have a very bad day indeed.

So, let's hope that option wasn't on the table.

A little Peter Gabriel would seem to be in order.

Editor's Note: For decades, former presidents have been all talk and no action. Now, Donald Trump is eliminating the threat from Iran once and for all.

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