By MK Bhadrakumar*
(Opinion) Ignoring the hype within the US media about White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan’s Kissingerian diplomacy over Ukraine, the secretary of Russia’s Security Council Nikolai Patrushev, former KGB counterintelligence officer and longstanding affiliate of President Putin, traveled to Tehran final Wednesday within the equal of a knockout punch in geopolitics.
Patrushev known as on President Ebrahim Raisi and held detailed discussions with Admiral Ali Shamkhani, the Supreme chief’s consultant and secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council.
The go to marks a defining second within the Russia-China partnership and crops a signpost on the trajectory of the conflict in Ukraine.
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The Iranian state media quoted Raisi as saying, “The development of the extent and expansion of the scale of war [in Ukraine] causes concern for all countries.”
Raisi additionally remarked that Tehran and Moscow are upgrading relations to a “strategic” stage, which is “the most decisive response to the policy of sanctions and destabilization by the United States and its allies.”
The US State Department reacted swiftly on the very subsequent day, with spokesman Ned Price warning that “This is a deepening alliance that the entire world should view as a profound threat… this is a relationship that would have implications, could have implications beyond any single country.”
Price stated Washington would work with allies to counter Russian-Iranian army ties.
Patrushev’s talks in Tehran touched on extremely delicate points that prompted President Vladimir Putin to observe up with Raisi on Saturday.
The Kremlin readout stated the 2 leaders “discussed a number of current issues on the bilateral agenda with an emphasis on the continued building up of interaction in politics, trade and the economy, including transport and logistics. They agreed to step up contacts between respective Russian and Iranian agencies.”
In this connection, Patrushev’s exceptionally sturdy help for Iran over the present disturbances in that nation should be understood correctly.
Patrushev acknowledged: “We note the key role of Western secret services in organizing mass riots in Iran and the subsequent spread of disinformation about the situation in the country via Persian-language Western media existing under their control. We see this as overt interference in the internal affairs of a sovereign state.”
Russian safety companies share data with Iranian counterparts on hostile actions of western intelligence companies.
Notably, Patrushev sidestepped Iran’s suspicions concerning the involvement of Saudi Arabia.
Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov additionally publicly provided to mediate between Tehran and Riyadh.
All that is driving Washington insane.
On the one hand, it isn’t getting wherever, together with at President Biden’s stage, to lift the specter of Iran’s risk and rally the Arab regimes of the Persian Gulf once more.
Most not too long ago, Washington resorted to theatrics following up on an unsubstantiated report by Wall Street Journal about an imminent Iranian assault on Saudi Arabia within the coming days.
The US forces within the West Asian area elevated their alert stage, and Washington vowed to be prepared for any eventuality.
But, curiously, Riyadh was unmoved and confirmed little interest in the US provide of safety to keep at bay threats from Iran.
Clearly, the Saudi-Iranian normalization course of, which has been front-loaded with delicate exchanges on their mutual safety considerations, has gained traction neither facet will get provoked right into a knee-jerk response.
This paradigm shift works to Russia’s benefit.
Alongside its extremely strategic oil alliance with Saudi Arabia, Russia is now deepening its strategic partnership with Iran.
The panic in spokesman Price’s remarks means that Washington has inferred that the cooperation between Russia and Iran’s safety and protection companies is ready to accentuate.
What alarms Washington most is that Tehran is adopting a joint technique with Moscow to go on the offensive and defeat the weaponization of sanctions by the collective West.
Despite a long time of sanctions, Iran has constructed up a world-class protection trade by itself steam that may disgrace international locations like India or Israel.
Shamkhani underscored the creation of “joint and synergistic institutions to deal with sanctions and the activation of the capacity of international institutions against sanctions and sanctioning countries.”
Patrushev concurred by recalling the sooner agreements between the nationwide safety companies of the 2 international locations to chart out the roadmap for strategic cooperation, particularly concerning countering western financial and technological sanctions.
Shamkhani added that Tehran regards the enlargement of bilateral and regional cooperation with Russia within the financial discipline as one in all its strategic priorities within the situations of US sanctions, which each international locations are going through.
Patrushev responded, “The most important goal of mine and my delegation in traveling to Tehran is to exchange opinions to speed up the implementation of joint projects along with providing dynamic mechanisms to start new activities in the economic, commercial, energy, and technology fields.”
Patrushev famous, “Creating synergy in transit capacities, especially the rapid completion of the North-South corridor, is an effective step to improve the quality of bilateral and international economic and commercial cooperation.”
Patrushev and Shamkhani mentioned a joint plan by Russia and Iran “to establish a friendship group of defenders of the United Nations Charter” comprising international locations that bear the brunt of unlawful western sanctions.
With regard to the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, Shamkhani stated the 2 international locations ought to “intelligently use the exchangeable capacities” of the member international locations.
He stated the hazard of terrorism and extremism continues to threaten the area’s safety and burdened the necessity to improve regional and worldwide cooperation.
Patrushev’s go to to Tehran was scheduled within the run-up to the convention on Afghanistan being hosted by Moscow on November 16.
Iran and Russia have frequent considerations over Afghanistan. They are involved over the western makes an attempt to (re)gasoline the civil conflict in Afghanistan.
In a current op-ed in Nezavisimaya Gazeta, Russian Special Presidential Envoy for Afghanistan Zamir Kabulov alleged that Britain is financing a so-called “Afghan resistance” in opposition to the Taliban (which is reportedly working out of Panjshir) Kabulov wrote that the US is baiting two Central Asian states by providing them helicopters and plane in lieu of cooperation in covert actions in opposition to the Taliban.
Kabulov made a sensational disclosure that the US is blackmailing the Taliban leaders by threatening them with a drone assault except they broke off contact with Russia and China.
He stated, particularly, that the US and Britain are demanding that Kabul ought to chorus from limiting the actions of Afghanistan-based Uyghur terrorists.
Interestingly, Moscow is exploring the creation of a compact group of 5 regional states who’re stakeholders in Afghanistan’s stabilization and will work collectively. Kabulov talked about Iran, Pakistan, India, and China as Russia’s companions.
Iran is a “force multiplier” for Russia in a method no different nation — besides China, maybe — will be within the current troublesome situations of sanctions.
Patrushev’s go to to Tehran at this time juncture, on the day after the midterms within the US, can solely imply that the Kremlin has seen via the Biden administration’s dissimulation of peacemaking in Ukraine to really derail the momentum of the Russian mobilization and creation of latest protection strains within the Kherson-Zaporozhya-Donbass path.
Indeed, it’s no secret that the Americans are actually scratching the underside of the barrel to ship weapons to Ukraine as their stock is drying up, and several other months or a number of years are wanted to replenish depleted shares. (right here, right here ,right here and right here)
Suffice to say, from the geopolitical angle, Patrushev’s talks in Tehran — and Putin’s name quickly after with Raisi — have messaged in no unmistakable phrases that Russia is strategizing for the lengthy haul in Ukraine.
* Ambassador M. Ok. Bhadrakumar was a profession diplomat within the Indian Foreign Service. His assignments included the Soviet Union, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Germany, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Uzbekistan, Kuwait, and Turkey
This publish is mirrored and was printed first right here.
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