New Kremlin's excuse for war against Ukraine involves Iran — Politico
Putin's friendship has limits (photo: KHAMENEI.IR)
Russia's refusal to intervene in Iran could become a tool for the Kremlin to justify its war against Ukraine. Moscow reportedly plans to use the situation to highlight the Western countries' "inability" to follow international rules, according to Politico.
Iran as pretext for Putin
The media believes that the Russian leadership may use the events in Tehran to validate its actions in Ukraine.
Russian political analyst Vladimir Pastukhov notes that President Vladimir Putin is likely to point to Iran as evidence of the "dangerous" behavior of Western countries.
"It will be difficult to convince Putin that he was ever wrong. To the doubters, he'll point to Tehran and say: 'It could have been us,'" Pastukhov said.
This approach aims to reinforce the narrative that the invasion of Ukraine was allegedly a preemptive move to avoid Iran's fate.
Criticism of US diplomacy
High-ranking Russian officials have already begun using the Iran case to discredit American diplomacy. For example, Russian Security Council Deputy Chairman Dmitry Medvedev called Donald Trump's attempts to resolve the situation fiction.
According to him, negotiations with Iran were just a cover, and everyone knew it.
The Kremlin hopes this message—highlighting the "pointlessness" of agreements with Washington—will dominate among its allies, overshadowing Russia's own inaction regarding Tehran.
US–Iran escalation
The situation around Iran sharply escalated after US President Donald Trump threatened Tehran to "hit them with a force that has never been seen before." According to Trump, Washington is ready to take decisive action if the Islamic Republic continues its escalation.
Previous reports say that two countries were reportedly instrumental in pushing Trump toward announcing a "war" on Iran, convincing him of the need for radical containment of Tehran.
In response, official Iran adopted aggressive rhetoric, declaring plans to force the United States to capitulate and announcing preparation for the most powerful revenge operation in the country's history.
