More than a year ago, after Iran had flummoxed EU negotiators for months, the Russians rolled up their sleeves and stepped in. They seemed to be saying, we’ll show you how to thwart Iran’s nuclear ambitions via tough diplomacy. Russia made a reasonable offer to Iran. The Iranians snubbed it, embarrassing Russian President Vladimir Putin in the process.
Did the Russians retaliate by halting work on the nuclear reactor they have been building for Iran at Bushehr? Did they back strong sanctions against Iran in the UN Security Council? No and no. The Russians shrugged and kept building. Even worse, they helped defang the recent UN Security Council resolution against Iran.
So now, as the U.S. and its allies work to economically isolate Iran, as a second aircraft carrier heads to the Persian Gulf, as coalition forces arrest Iranian officials suspected of stirring violence in Iraq, what is Russia’s response?
Last week, Russian defense minister Sergei Ivanov confirmed that Moscow had sold air defense missiles to Iran. Yes, that’s right. Russia is selling weapons to Iran.
It’s selling weapons to a state that is a leading sponsor of terrorism, whose president has vowed to wipe Israel off the map. It is selling these weapons even though the UN has been warning and cajoling and threatening Iran to stop its nuclear program for years.
How did Ivanov justify the sale? Simple. It was all part of a contract signed in December 2005. Translation: Business is business, and to hell with the rest of the world.
The Russians insisted that the sale doesn’t violate any international agreements. And that the missiles are short-range and purely defensive. But let’s see. What might Iran be defending? Its illegal uranium-enrichment sites? Other nuclear facilities where it is likely to be developing the expertise to build a bomb? And whose forces would be the likely targets of those missiles?
The Russians, like the Chinese, issue reassuring pronouncements about opposing Iran’s nuclear march. The Chinese recently called on the Iranians to give a “serious response” to the UN resolution. Yes, harumph, harumph. Serious! Then a few days later comes word from the Wall Street Journal that Beijing has warned Washington not to interfere in a possible multibillion-dollar natural gas deal between Iran and China’s biggest offshore oil company.
Much of the world is anxious to see Tehran’s nuclear ambitions thwarted. A nuclear arms race in the Middle East may be veering closer. Last week, Jordan joined the list of Arab nations proclaiming a sudden desire to develop “peaceful” nuclear power.
Iran poses a grave nuclear threat. Russia seems intent on giving it cover.
