Page 8 - MEOG Week 28 2022

MEOG POLICY & SECURITY MEOG

US warns of threat of Putin’s

efforts to deepen ties with Iran

IRAN RUSSIAN President Vladimir Putin’s efforts to manufacturers want to sell the world weapons.
deepen ties with Iran amid the Ukraine conflict “We will avoid any action that could lead to an
amount to a “profound threat,” US National escalation, but we will work to stop the war,” he
Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said on July 13. concluded.
Sullivan’s comments come as US officials With some experts assessing that Iran is
monitor what they have claimed is an Iranian potentially only weeks away from having enough
plan to supply Russia with several hundred fissile material for one nuclear bomb – though
drones, including some that are weapons-capa- weaponising it into a modern nuclear weapon
ble and surveillance drones, for use in the heat might take an additional few years, or several
of battle in Ukraine. Washington is also keenly months by some estimates – the fate of the
aware that Moscow and Tehran are accelerating dormant 2015 nuclear deal, or JCPOA, will also
and building trade and investment links that will be raised by Biden in his talks during his Middle
help the Kremlin counter impacts of Western East tour.
sanctions imposed in response to the war. Putin AlJazeera on July 13 reported Iran as saying it
is expected to visit Tehran next week where he remained committed to reviving the agreement
will hold one-on-one and trilateral meetings with world powers that would curb the Iranian
with Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and Turk- nuclear programme in exchange for the lifting
ish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. US Presi- of economic sanctions on Tehran, but talks on
dent Joe Biden on July 13 arrived in Tel Aviv at finding an agreed formula to achieve that have
the start of a planned four-day trip to the Middle been deadlocked for months.
East taking in Israel, the occupied West Bank and Nasser Kanani, the new spokesman for the
Saudi Arabia. Iran is clearly high on his agenda. Iranian foreign ministry, told reporters dur-
Sullivan referred to the timing of the Putin ing a news conference that a time and place to
trip as “interesting”. continue recently launched indirect talks with
“Russia deepening an alliance with Iran to kill the US – brokered by the EU – would “soon” be
Ukrainians is something that the whole world announced.
should look at and see as a profound threat,” Sul- Kanani’s remarks came a day after Catherine
livan said. Colonna, France’s new foreign minister, told pol-
Since the US warned Iran was set to supply iticians that Iran was deploying delaying tactics
Russia with drones, media have attempted to get while pushing ahead with uranium enrichment
some answers from Tehran on the matter. Rome under its nuclear programme. “The window of
daily La Repubblica on July 13 caught up with opportunity will close in a few weeks,” she said.
Iran’s foreign minister Hossein Amir-Abdolla- “There will not be a better accord to the one
hian as he paid a visit to the Italian capital. How- which is on the table.”
ever, his comments to the newspaper, as relayed One big difficulty with Iran is that should it
by The Associated Press, largely served to muddy sign up to a reinstatement of the JCPOA, Biden
the waters. can give Tehran no guarantee that his successor
Amir-Abdollahian insisted Iran opposes will not unilaterally pull the US out of the multi-
Russia’s war against Ukraine, but was vague on lateral deal, just as former US president Donald
whether Tehran’s military cooperation with Trump did in May 2018, breaking international
Moscow would include sales of drones that could diplomatic convention, while asserting that a
carry missiles. sanctions-led policy on Iran was the best way to
The top Iranian diplomat was quoted as say- achieve Washington’s aims.
ing that “we are against Russia’s military attack in In his interview with La Repubblica,
Ukraine”, while also observing that “we have var- Amir-Abdollahian said: “We are asking for a
ious types of collaboration with Russia, includ- strong economic guarantee [as part of a return
ing in the defence sector”. He then asserted that to the JCPOA]. If a Western business signs a con-
“we won’t help either of the sides involved in this tract with its Iranian counterpart, it must have
war because we believe that it [the war] needs to the certainty that its project will be realised and
be stopped”. will be able to receive compensation [if it is not
In further remarks, Amir-Abdollahian hit realised because the US once again brings back
out at Western countries, saying their arms sanctions].”™

P8 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 28 13•July•2022