Alwaght- The successful alliance between Russia and Iran is expanding each year as the two sides came together to fight militants in Syria, Michael Rubin, former Pentagon official, says.
Writing for the Commentary Magazine, the American writer says “there it appears a real axis is developing between Russia and Iran”.
Rubin says he has been writing a history of Iran-Russia relations for the US Foreign Military Studies Office when he realized that currently “the relations are their warmest in perhaps 500 years”.
In an assessment of the mutual relations, it says such relations do not stop at “the development of military ties. Russian and Iranian Special Forces trained and competed together this summer in Russia’s military Olympics. Then, there were reports that Russian jets used an Iranian air base to strike at Syria, the first time in modern history that Iran willingly allowed a foreign military power use of one of its bases”.
Referring to the news that Russia has retreated its forces from Syria, the article claims “both Russia and Iran have moved to Plan B. Despite President Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry’s repeated declarations that Russia had withdrawn its forces from Syria, the fact of the matter is that Russia kept the air base it built in Syria after its initial deployment”.
“Now, it seems that both Russia and Iran are using that base. Ali Shamkhani, the secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, announced that Iran and Russia share a military base “where Iran conducts its advisory mission to help the Syrian army and [pro-regime] resistance forces with Russia’s assistance.” He added that Iran and Russia “work together to design the military aspect of the counter-terrorism fight…”
Former pentagon official also slams US leaders for their softness facing Iran and Russia and says “Axes do not appear overnight, and it is only through willful blindness that they surprise. President Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry were blind, however. They never understood that Russian support for the Iran nuclear deal had far less to do with Kerry’s skill as a diplomat and more with the fulfillment of Russian grand strategy to strengthen itself and Iran relative to the United States”.
As for the future of the region and US position facing such alliance, he concludes “both countries share an airbase in Syria—and Turkey may not be far behind—may be the true legacy of Obama’s West Asia policy and Kerry’s misplaced trust as well as the greatest challenge the United States will face as President-elect Donald Trump takes office”.
