SVG
Commentary
Wall Street Journal

Why Russia and China Build Up Iran

bryan_clark
bryan_clark
Senior Fellow and Director, Center for Defense Concepts and Technology
michael_doran
michael_doran
Senior Fellow and Director, Center for Peace and Security in the Middle East
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi delivers a speech in the Imam Khomeini Grand Mosque in downtown Tehran on January 3, 2022. (Photo by Morteza Nikoubazl/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Caption
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi delivers a speech in the Imam Khomeini Grand Mosque in downtown Tehran on January 3, 2022. (Photo by Morteza Nikoubazl/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

The Ukraine crisis exposes a flaw in President Biden鈥檚 Iran strategy. Washington engages with Beijing and Moscow as if they share core U.S. interests with respect to Iran, when instead they are working with Tehran to undermine the American-led global order.

That鈥檚 certainly what officials in Tehran are saying. Last Wednesday, Mahmoud Abbaszadeh-Meshkini, a spokesman for the Iranian Parliament鈥檚 National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, : 鈥淚n the new world order, a triangle consisting of three powers鈥擨ran, Russia, and China鈥攈as formed.鈥� He was clear about the goal: 鈥淭his new arrangement heralds the end of the inequitable hegemony of the United States and the West.鈥�