WarSclerotic

Canadian forces may be obliged to come to Israel’s defense in case of attack | Canada Politics – Yahoo! News.

In the midst of growing Anti-Israeli sentiment stemming from the Arab world, it seems Canada is about to get even cozier with Israel.

According to an article in the National Post, the two allies are about to sign-off on a number of defence co-operation agreements that will “significantly tighten military bonds”

The agreements will cover a range of areas, including intelligence sharing, joint research and development, and military exchange programs. One of the agreements, the column notes,  could oblige Canada to come to Israel’s defence should the latter be attacked.

With war — maybe even nuclear war — between Iran and Israel becoming a real possibility such a pact could have serious repercussions for our Canadian forces.

“Israel needs strong, reliable partners, which Canada is certainly one,” defence minister Peter MacKay told reporters Wednesday in a joint news conference with his Israeli counterpart Ehud Barak.

“I would argue they could not find a more supportive country on the planet.”

Indeed, un­der the Harper government, Canada has given its unwavering support to Israel.

Most recently, they illustrated its pro-Israel slant in its opposition to a UNESCO resolution to include Palestine as a full member state.

Barak said his country appreciates all of Canada’s support.

“Israel and Canada are very good friends,” he said.

“We highly appreciate the support we get from the Canadian government and people on many issues. And we are proud of the deepening and strengthening of the defence relationship that we have developed.”

THE DAILY STAR :: News :: Middle East :: Turkey, Jordan to set up safe zones in Syria: diplomats.

Obama And The EU Could Stop Iran’s Nuclear Quest With Crippling Financial Sanctions | Fox News.

A Bomb that scares us all.

The outcome of Friday’s vote on the resolution aimed at censuring Iran for persisting with its nuclear weaponisation programme at the meeting of the 35-nation International Atomic Energy Agency Governing Board was as much a foregone conclusion as the final text of the resolution itself. Iran has got away, yet again, despite the November 8 report of IAEA Director-General Yukiya Amano which has served to confirm what has been known all along: That Tehran is well on its way to acquiring a nuclear bomb.

With Russia and China firmly refusing to back any initiative by the US to impose harsher punitive sanctions on Iran by referring the issue to the UN Security Council, it couldn’t have been any other way at Vienna. While Russian and Chinese intransigence was only to be expected, the insistence of France and Germany to toe a soft line did come as a surprise. Others chose to sit on the fence.

On its part, Iran continues to deny that it is pursuing a military nuclear programme and has described Mr Amano’s report as “fabricated”. It has also questioned the credibility of intelligence inputs that have been cited or mentioned in the report. Mr Amano has been denounced as a ‘stooge’ of the West — that is understandable; after all, unlike his predecessor Mohammed El Baradei who was loath to expose Iran’s intentions, he has been straight and upfront with his assessment. But there’s nothing new about Iran’s denial and denunciation of the West, either.

Denials and denunciations, however, do not compensate for Iran’s refusal to allow onsite inspections of its uranium re-processing facilities. Nor can Iran really thumb its nose at the world and say it cares tuppence for international opinion. For Iran is a signatory to the NPT and is obliged to honour the commitments contained in that treaty. If Iran ultimately manages to get away with violating those commitments then the very sanctity of international treaties and legitimacy of multilateral agreements would lie in tatters. Anarchy and worse would come to replace whatever remains of global order with rogue regimes ruling the roast.

Yet, it is a reflection of our times that, if truth be told, nothing can be done to stop Iran from acquiring a nuclear arsenal whose consequences could prove to be cataclysmic if we are to take President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s threats seriously, especially his repeated call to “wipe Israel off the map of the world”. No less worrisome is the chain reaction that will be triggered by Iran conducting a nuclear test by way of announcing that it now has a weapon of mass destruction. It is anybody’s guess as to when that could happen.

Iran’s mocking defiance is also a telling comment on the efficacy, if not relevance, of the UN and its toothless watchdog agencies like the IAEA. Focussed as its efforts are to be seen to be fashionably politically correct (recall this year’s General Assembly hoopla over Abu Mazen seeking full Palestinian membership of the august body now reduced to a talking shop) it has long lost sight of its Charter.

Every country which matters, the US included, would be lying if it were to say that Mr Amano’s report has come as a startling revelation. As Brigadier-General Shalom Harari, who has served in the intelligence branch of the Israeli Defence Force and is currently associated with the International Institute for Counter-Terrorism at Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya, recently told me, “The Iranians were cheating all this while and the world knew of it.” The world, of course, did nothing about it. Instead, Israel was — and continues to be — accused of being ‘needlessly’ alarmist. “They have the missiles. Soon they will have the bomb,” Brig Gen Harari added ruefully.

Israel has the most to fear if Iran does come to possess a nuclear arsenal. Before the Arab Spring unsettled the Arab world and upset its hierarchical power structure, entrenched Sunni Arab regimes served as obstacles in Shia Iran’s journey in search for supremacy in West Asia or the extended Middle East. That situation no longer obtains. With radical Islamism filling the vacuum created by the collapse of many of the entrenched regimes, support for Iranian adventurism and strident anti-Americanism is no longer defined by sectarian allegiances. The Shia-Sunni divide may not have been erased entirely, but it is no longer as sharp as it was till recently.

Tehran’s proxies now wield considerable influence in the region. There’s Hizbullah which is virtually in charge of Lebanon. There’s Hamas which has declared that its hudna with Israel is over. And there’s President Bashar Al-Assad who, despite battling a rebellion at home, remains firmly in power. The Islamists aligned with the Muslim Brotherhood who now command sizeable support in Egypt, the centre of Arab politics and powerplay so long as President Hosni Mubarak was in office, and their fellow Ikhwan radicals in Jordan would be happy to collaborate with Iran. Iraq after Saddam Hussein is already under pro-Iran Shia domination. Elsewhere, for instance in Bahrain, Shia insurgency, fuelled by Iran, is giving Sunni regimes sleepless nights. In such a situation, Israel cannot but worry about the future and its very existence.

In 1981 Israel ignored world opinion and bombed Iraq’s nuclear facility, called Osirak and built with the assistance of France, out of existence. On that occasion France had insisted that its Osiris class nuclear reactor was not being used for producing weapon-grade plutonium. That was codswallop. Operation Opera was an unqualified success and Iraq’s dreams of building a nuclear bomb were shattered. In 2007, there was sufficient evidence that Syria was setting up a plutonium-producing facility with a North Korea-designed reactor at Deir al-Zor. Israeli planes bombed that facility to rubble although Jerusalem never admitted to its role in that raid.

Today, Israel has to think twice, if not more, before it undertakes another Operation Opera. The dynamics of the region have changed radically and any raid on Iran would fetch immediate retaliatory attacks by Tehran’s proxies. “Bombing Iran’s nuclear facility is the last option,” says Brig Gen Harari, “The world has to stop it (Iran getting the Bomb) through economic, diplomatic and international pressure… Iran has to be isolated.” And what if it cannot be stopped? “We must at least try to delay it. One assessment is that Iran will have a nuclear bomb by 2014. Can back channel diplomacy be used to make it go slow?”

That, in a sense, shows how pathetically helpless we all are — an Iranian Bomb is not good news for India either — in the changed circumstances ushered by the much-hailed but little understood Arab Spring. We can’t stop the Ayatollahs from getting hold of nukes. So we try to delay Iran going nuclear. That way lies the path to unmitigated disaster.

The Associated Press: West says Iran deceives world on nukes.

VIENNA (AP) — The U.S. and its Western allies bluntly accused Iran on Friday of deceiving the world by trying to hide work on nuclear arms, as the U.N. atomic agency passed a new resolution criticizing Tehran’s nuclear defiance.

Iran shot back that the West’s allegations were based on fabricated American, Israeli, British and French intelligence fed to the International Atomic Energy Agency to try and discredit the Islamic Republic.

Reflecting its bitterness, Iran’s chief IAEA delegate withdrew an invitation to U.N. atomic agency experts to visit Tehran and discuss nuclear concerns.

The unusually tough exchanges were bound to further raise international tensions over Iran’s nuclear activities — even though the Western statements emphasized that the preferred solution was through diplomacy.

France warned Iran to defuse world fears that it is working on nuclear weapons or face “unprecedented” sanctions, while Washington dismissed “the hollowness” of Iranian claims, asserting that Iran must acknowledge its secret weapons development work. Britain, too, urged Iran to “address the grave concerns of the international community about its nuclear program.”

Statements delivered to the IAEA’s 35-nation board by the U.S., and on behalf of Germany, Britain and France, contained no mention of military action — an option that has not been discounted by either Israel or the U.S. if Tehran refuses to stop activities that can be used for nuclear weapons.

Still, they pulled no punches, drawing heavily on a recent IAEA report based on intelligence from more than 10 nations that concluded that some alleged clandestine work by Iran could not be used for any other purpose than making nuclear arms.

“It is no longer within the bounds of credulity to claim that Iran’s nuclear activities are solely peaceful,” said Glyn Davies, the chief U.S. delegate to the IAEA, adding: “There is little doubt that Iran … at the very least, wants to position itself for a nuclear weapons capability.”

He told The Associated Press that the Iranian allegations were nothing more than “old bile in new bottles ” — old excuses repackaged for the IAEA meeting.

For the three European nations, German chief delegate Ruediger Luedeking said Iranian actions, …”deepened disbelief in the exclusively peaceful nature of its nuclear program.”

Delegates at the closed meeting easily passed a resolution based on the report urging Iran to end more than three years of stonewalling of IAEA attempts to probe the allegations, and to heed U.N. Security Council demands to stop other activities that could be used to make nuclear arms. Only Cuba and Ecuador voted against, and Indonesia abstained.

The resolution is milder than the West had hoped for — but it had the support of Russia and China, which Iran traditionally counts on to counter Western pressure.

A senior diplomat at the meeting told The AP that Tehran was particularly unhappy with the success of the West’s tactical move — watering down the language of the resolution in exchange for support from Moscow and Beijing. He asked for anonymity for relaying confidential information.

The resolution did not threaten new U.N. sanctions — Iran already is under four such sets of penalties. But French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe warned of new punitive measures if Tehran remains defiant.

“France urges Iran to heed the unanimous message addressed to her by the IAEA,” he said in a statement. “If Iran refuses to comply with her international obligations … we shall, along with all our partners, adopt sanctions on an unprecedented scale.”

White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said the IAEA report revealed that Iran “engaged in covert research and development related to activities that can have only one application: building a nuclear warhead for delivery on a ballistic missile.

“The Director General’s report and today’s action by the Board of Governors expose once and for all the hollowness of Iran’s claims, and reinforce the world’s demands that Iran come clean,” he said in a statement.

Russia’s Foreign Ministry said Moscow shares “a growing concern about the current developments expressed in the resolution” but warned of “an outburst of political passions” that would hamper dialogue between Iran and world powers.

Pressure on Iran began Monday. In opening words to the meeting, IAEA chief Yukiya Amano voiced concerns “regarding possible military dimensions to Iran’s nuclear program,” saying such work may extend into the present. He added his agency finds the information leading to such suspicions to be generally credible.

Iran is under U.N. Security Council resolutions for refusing to freeze uranium enrichment — which can make both nuclear fuel and fissile weapons material.

It denies any interest in such weapons, says it is being targeted unfairly by the U.S. and its allies and that Amano is working for the Americans.

Chief Iranian delegate Ali Ashghar Soltanieh accused Amano of drawing up an “illegal, partial and unjustified and politicized report.”

The report, he said, is based on “information provided by intelligence services of (the) U.S., U.K, France, (the) Israeli regime and some other western countries, which are false, baseless and fabricated.”

He also accused Amano of security leaks that expose his country’s scientists and their families to the threat of assassination by the U.S. and Israel.

Such leaks, said Soltanieh, have made Iranian scientists “the targets for assassination by … (the) Israeli regime and United State(s) of America intelligence services.” He said Amano is to blame for any threat “against the lives of my fellow citizens.”

___

Associated Press writers Bradley Klapper in Washington, Danica Kirka in London, Vladimir Ishachenkov in Moscow, and Noura Maan in Vienna contributed.

Iran conducts 4-day air defense drill – Israel News, Ynetnews.

Exercise in east Iran aimed at ‘heightening level of preparedness amid possible threats to airspace, nuclear centers’

Dudi Cohen

The Iranian army was set to launch an air defense drill Friday evening simulating an attack on the country’s nuclear facilities, the Islamic Republic News Agency reported.

According to the regime’s mouthpiece, the four-day drill will be held in eastern Iranand stress “the characteristics of the Islamic Republic’s defense doctrine in the framework of the heightened air defense alert level.”

The military exercise comes just six days after a blast at an army base outside Tehran left several members of the Revolutionary Guard dead, including a senior officer who was a key figure in Iran’s missile program. Some western media outlets claimed Israel was behind the explosion.

Blast at Iranian army base (Photo: AP)

The report said the drill will include the use of “missile systems, advanced anti-aircraft artillery and various radar systems, as well as “tactical maneuvers aimed at increasing the level of preparedness amid possible threats to the Islamic homeland’s airspace, particularly with regards to the country’s…nuclear centers.”

Last June the Revolutionary Guard conducted an extensive drill in northwest Iran, during which surface-to-surface missiles were launched.

The past few weeks have seen a stream of leaks from Israel regarding the possibility of a military strike on Iran, this after an International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) reportsaid Tehran has been working toward building a nuclear weapon since 2003 despite sanctions imposed by the international community.

Israel recently test-launched a ballistic missile and conducted an aerial drill in Italy with the participation of IDF fighter pilots. The IDF also held a home front drill simulating a missile attack on the greater Tel Aviv area – a realistic scenario in case of an attack on Iran’s nuclear sites.

Iran tends to conduct high-profile military exercises once every few months to showcase the country’s technological and military innovations.

Meanwhile, governors of the UN nuclear watchdog approved a resolution on Friday voicing “increasing concern” about Iran’s atomic work, cranking up international pressure on Tehran after a UN report said it appeared to have worked on designing an atom bomb.

The 35-nation policy-making body of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) adopted the text by a clear majority, with 32 states voting for and 2 against.

Reuters contributed to the report

Would Obama use military force to stop Iran from getting nukes? – Right Turn – The Washington Post.

Israel Hayom.

If Iran does not halt its pursuit of nuclear weapons, it will face a choice between “keeping the bomb or surviving,” Vice Prime Minister and Strategic Affairs Minister Moshe (Bogey) Ya’alon said on Thursday, according to Army Radio.

Speaking at a conference organized by Tel Aviv University’s Institute for National Security Studies, Ya’alon said Tehran must be prevented from acquiring nuclear military capabilities, “in one way or another.”

He said the “non-conventional” Iranian regime should not have access to “non-conventional” weapons, and stressed that Israel must deal with Iran according to the principle of, “The work of the righteous is done by others,” but also remembering Hillel’s principle of, “If I am not for myself, then who will be for me?”

“This is a critical time. The Iranians need to be convinced that if they don’t meet the conditions placed on them, they will face a choice between keeping the bomb or surviving,” Ya’alon said.

The vice prime minister’s comments came after the news website The Daily Beast reported on Wednesday that a possible Israeli attack on Iran’s nuclear sites would likely include “electronic warfare” on the country’s civilian infrastructure including its electric grids, Internet and cellphone networks, and emergency frequencies used by its firefighting and police forces.

Current and former U.S. intelligence officials told The Daily Beast that based on a U.S. intelligence assessment conducted over the summer, Israel has developed, for example, a weapon capable of imitating a maintenance cellphone signal that instructs a cellphone network to “sleep,” therefore effectively stopping transmissions. Israel also has “jammers” capable of triggering interference in Iran’s emergency frequencies for first response services, the officials said.

“In a 2007 attack on a suspected nuclear site at al-Kibar, the Syrian military got a taste of this warfare when Israeli planes ‘spoofed’ the country’s air-defense radars, at first making it appear that no jets were in the sky and then in an instant making the radar believe the sky was filled with hundreds of planes,” Daily Beast reporter Eli Lake writes.

Israel would also likely take advantage of U.S.-detected vulnerabilities in Iranian cities’ electric grids, the Daily Beast report said, quoting the intelligence officials. The electric grids are not “air-gapped,” which means they are connected to the Internet and are therefore susceptible to a Stuxnet-style cyber-attack, the officials said.

The electronic components in such an attack would be delivered using unmanned aerial vehicles the size of jumbo jets, the officials told The Daily Beast. The Israeli reconnaissance UAV, the Eitan, can fly at altitudes above commercial air traffic for 20 straight hours and can carry a payload of one ton.

Lake notes that similar unmanned drones have been a critical tool used by the U.S. in its wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan, to collect intelligence and fire missiles at suspected terrorists. “But Israel’s fleet has been specially fitted for electronic warfare,” Lake writes, quoting the intelligence officials.

In recent weeks, talk over a possible Israeli strike on Iran’s nuclear sites has increased.

The International Atomic Energy Agency released a report recently claiming that Iran has been secretly developing nuclear weapons since 2003. Citing “credible” information from member states and elsewhere, the Vienna-based U.N. nuclear watchdog listed a series of activities tied to developing nuclear weapons, such as high explosives testing, the development of nuclear warheads for missiles and the development of an atomic bomb trigger.

EU must take Iran action – Israel Opinion, Ynetnews.

Op-ed: Sadly, Europe’s leaders have not matched tough Iran rhetoric with meaningful action

Benjamin Weinthal

For almost 10 years, the European Union has engaged Iran’s rulers in fruitless diplomatic efforts to halt their nuclear weapons program. Last week, the International Atomic Energy Agency confirmed that the Islamic Republic has conducted tests specific to building nuclear warheads. With the Iranian regime mere months away from having the bomb, the EU is running out of time.

Europe’s major leaders, from German Chancellor Angela Merkel to France’s Nicolas Sarkozy, have repeatedly stated their opposition to a nuclear Iran. In her speeches to Israel’s Knesset in 2008 and the US Congress in 2009, she declared that the security of the Jewish state is “non-negotiable” to her administration, and that Iran’s drive toward a nuclear weapon must be stopped.

Sadly, Europe’s leaders have not matched their tough political rhetoric with meaningful political action. In 2010, as the US moved to tighten economic sanctions on Iran, European capitals merely paid lip service, while their bilateral trade with Iran flourished to over 25 billion Euros a year. As European officials surely know, this money helps finance Iran’s illegal nuclear activities.

Last month, US Treasury Undersecretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence David S. Cohen took a whirlwind tour of Berlin, Rome, Paris and London, with the goal of persuading major European capitals to sanction the Central Bank of Iran. The CBI is essential to Iran’s international trade, and Europe has shown no desire to clamp down on it. According to this week’s Der Spiegel magazine, an unnamed member of the German government rejects a complete boycott of Iran on grounds that it would “unite the entire country against the West.”

Merkel and Sarkozy – will they take action? (Photo: EPA)

But Iranians are dead-set against their regime, and have been since the fraudulent presidential elections of 2009. The Germans are concerned only with preserving their 4 billion Euros bilateral trade relationship, which makes them Iran’s number one business partner in the EU.

Dr. Matthias Küntzel, an expert on German-Iranian economic relations and a professor at a local college in Hamburg, and a sharp critic of the Merkel administration policy on the Islamic Republic, told me that “Germany should either openly admit that it has resigned itself to living with an Iranian bomb, or do what is necessary to prevent an atomic bomb in the hands of religious fanatics.”

Will Merkel deliver?

When it comes to sanctioning Iran, Germany has long been the weakest link in the chain. Yet France, Italy and the United Kingdom also refuse to sanction Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps or its central bank. Both entities are deeply immersed in Iran’s nuclear program and finance its terrorist proxies, including Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in the Gaza Strip. George W. Bush’s administration sanctioned the IRGC in 2007 as a global terrorist organization.

The IRGC controls as much as 75% of Iran’s economy, including its oil companies. If Europe were to sanction the IRGC, reduce its imports of Iranian crude oil, and then fill the gap with reserves from Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, Iran’s cash flow would soon begin to dry up.

For the sake of European security and Middle Eastern stability, Europe should also not rule out military strikes to damage Iran’s nuclear facilities. While British Foreign Secretary William Hague and Dutch Foreign Minister Uri Rosenthal did not explicitly rule out military intervention against Iran at a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels on Monday, German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle categorically rejected it. And Germany is the only EU country that claims to see Israel’s security interests as integral to its own.

If German officials truly saw their security interests as identical to those of the Jewish state, they would not withhold their assistance in enforcing sanctions on the greatest threat to its existence.

The West may still have time to roll back Iran’s nuke program, and Germany has more leverage than any other European nation to do so. Will Merkel make good on her promise?

• Benjamin Weinthal is a fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies

A troubling axis – JPost – Magazine – Opinion.

Russia and China’s short-sighted, selfish policy of supporting Iran’s radical Islamic regime poses a major global threat.

Photo by: REUTERS

Five US administrations, going back to former president Jimmy Carter, have imposed sanctions on Iran. And years of failed diplomatic efforts to get Iran to sit down to formal negotiations have led the US and most European nations to conclude that the imposition of sanctions was the best option to try and get Iran to comply with its international obligations under the UN Charter and the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, to which it is a signatory.

While US President Barack Obama has said his desire was to resolve the Iran issue through diplomatic means, he appears to understand that ultimately, Iran is a threat to the entire free world and that their threats to attack the West must be taken seriously. He stated, “We are not taking any options off the table. Iran with nuclear weapons would pose a threat not only to the region but also to the United States.”

But China and Russia have a different agenda. They have measured their priorities on Iran differently than the West and their relationship with the Iranian regime is proving dangerous to world stability.

Ultimately, the fundamental question here that must be asked is: Why do Russia and China appear to support Iran at a time when the West seeks to sanction Iran over their nuclear-weapons program?

At a press conference after the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Hawaii on Sunday, Obama expressed interest in discussing further the issue of Iran with Russian leader Dmitry Medvedev and Chinese president Hu Jintao – both of whom have consistently dragged their feet when it came to getting tough on Iran.

In January 2011, Obama hosted a state dinner in honor of Jintao.

At a joint press conference, Obama said, “I absolutely believe that China’s peaceful rise is good for the world and it’s good for America.”

But what peaceful rise was he referring to? The Communist Party has been in power since 1949 and continues its wide-scale practice of religious oppression. Though the country has partially switched to a capitalist market model, it has not fully done so and the regime is still authoritarian in other areas including preventing freedom of speech, the right to a fair trial and basic human rights.

Tibetans and the Muslims of East Turkestan have lived under Chinese occupation for years, experiencing cruel treatment at the hands of the regime.

The Communist Party continues to resort to violence to remain in power – a political tool not unlike that used by Iran’s repressive regime during the 2009 elections.

China ranks as the world’s second largest economy after the United States. The country is also the largest exporter and second largest importer of goods in the world.

With this kind of economic power, China is a major player not only on an economic level but also on political and diplomatic levels, as well.

And this is clearly seen at the UN where its position as a major global force has rendered it a powerful player when it comes to deciding on votes, the outcome of which often have global repercussions.

According to John S. Park, a USIP senior research associate focusing on Northeast Asian security, economic and energy issues, “Beijing’s energy needs increasingly defined its political ties with Teheran.”

According to Sanam Vakil, a scholar on Middle East studies, “Iran is using its carefully cultivated commercial and strategic relations with China, Russia and India to counterbalance the threat of Western sanctions against its nuclear program.”

Two years ago, Saudi Arabia was replaced by Iran as the leading supplier of oil to China.

Today, the industry-energy relationship between China and Iran is extremely important for both countries.

Sanctions against Iran have only deepened this relationship as Iran relies more on China for its needs. China too, has turned to Iran as its energy needs have greatly expanded in recent years.

Less competition from companies in Western nations due to sanctions on Iran serves China well as it looks to keep expenditures on energy down.

China exported oil until 1993 but now needs it for domestic use. For this reason, it needs to look elsewhere and Iran, under heavy sanctions from the West, serves China’s needs beautifully.

In turn, China has become a major exporter of manufactured goods to Iran.

China also shares deep historical roots with Iran, which go back to the days of early civilization. The people of both areas have engaged in trade and diplomatic relations for centuries.

Their relationship today is therefore based on a relationship forged for centuries between leaders of both regions.

According to Park, Sino-Iranian relations are defined by three issues:

First, over the years, Beijing intensified efforts to secure energy resources from the Middle East. Commercial ties with Iran became a top priority. Beijing fed its increasing need for Iranian oil, while Teheran imported more Chinese manufactured goods.”

Second, and ironically, Teheran has clashed with China over its treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang Province. “Ayatollah Jafar Sobhani said, ‘…The unprotected Muslims are being mercilessly suppressed by yesterday’s communist China and today’s capitalist China.’ Iran’s foreign ministry expressed support for ‘the rights of Chinese Muslims.’”

This is ironic as Iran has never respected the rights of its own population.

Third, sanctions against Iran have presented an incredible strategic opportunity for Chinese companies to gain a better foothold in Iran now that Western companies have left a void, drastically reducing competition.

With the West’s struggle against a nuclear Iran, China has made progress far more difficult.

According to Republic of China’s Foreign Ministry Spokesman Hong Lei, China believes sanctions against Iran won’t fundamentally resolve problems related to the country’s nuclear program.

China’s strong relationship with Iran coupled with the unwillingness to sacrifice a hugely beneficial economic relationship has placed China on a political and diplomatic warpath with the West.

Like China, Russia wields definite power at the UN.

Russia has also taken advantage of the “War on Terrorism” to strengthen ties with US enemies. With specific regard to Iran, Russia has been relatively consistent in vetoing UN resolutions.

According to Bloomberg, Russia wants to resolve the dispute by lifting sanctions against Iran in stages, in return for Iranian cooperation on inspections. The offer is “still on the negotiating table,” Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said this week. He also said, “On the possibility of new sanctions against Iran, we believe the potential of pursuing sanctions against Iran has been exhausted.”

Mark Katz, a professor of government and politics at George Mason University, Russia does not necessarily have a close relationship with Iran but still aims to build lucrative economic ties with the regime.

Moscow’s willingness to side with the US over sanctions on Iran has been limited.

In 2007, Russia agreed to support UN Resolution 1747 which called on states to “exercise vigilance and restraint” in supplying Iran with weapons systems, but only because they “accused Iran of delinquency in payments for Bushehr [nuclear plant].”

Otherwise, Russia has been guilty of offering to supply Iran with anti-aircraft missile batteries, though Israeli pressure appears to have slowed the process.

Katz emphasizes that Moscow also wants to improve economic and military ties with some of Iran’s enemies, including Israel. They have purchased at least a few drones recently from Israel as they seek to supply its military with new technology.

While Russia is not as concerned as the West, it does not necessarily support Iran’s pursuit of nuclear weapons.

They would rather build economic ties with Iran through “petroleum, atomic energy and weaponry.”

Katz also explains that Moscow has cooperated with the US for two main reasons. First, it wants to placate the US administration with which it wants to maintain good relations.

Second, Moscow wants to encourage the West to pursue a multilateral diplomatic approach to dealing with Iran.

This seemingly cooperative stance should not fool anyone though. Russia has its own interests at heart as it works to build up its military and attempts to return to its place as a global superpower.

Their intransigence at the UN should serve as a strong signal that they are not interested in confronting Iran together with the US and Europe.

Mark Hibbs, a senior associate in the Nuclear Policy Program at Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, based in Berlin, emphasized that for a while already, “the Chinese and Russian governments were signalling to their counterparts in the Western states on the board that they would not be in favor of moving toward a resolution in the boardroom that would cite Iran for non-compliance based on these activities cited in the [IAEA] report… And there were many reasons for that; the primary reason given by Russia and China is that in their view a detailed expose of these activities given by the agency would in fact derail the diplomatic process.”

While some experts argue that both Russia and China share interests with the Western liberal powers, both countries appear to be reprioritizing their interests and needs. If they are intentionally cementing ties with Iran, by default they are distancing themselves from the West.

Russia and China, in focusing solely on their own interests and slowing Western efforts to stem Iran’s race to build the bomb, are fast destroying whatever element of world stability exists today.

It is their support in international forums that permits Iran to carry on with its nuclear-weapons program.

Unless Israel and the West can focus efforts on convincing Russia and China to switch allegiances, global stability as we know it will soon take a turn for the worse.