Political parties: "Fear in the US and Europe about Iran's rapprochement with Russia" | Israel Hayom

Senior officials in Western countries have in recent days expressed concern to their Israeli colleagues about the rapprochement between Russia and Iran.

The concerns are not expressed publicly at this point, but the Western representatives have discussed them with the Israelis, both at the leadership level and at the lower levels.

It seems that the formation of an axis between Russia and Iran, and perhaps even a bloc with other countries, is what stands in the background of things.

Political sources told "Israel Hayom" that in closed conversations, American and European representatives expressed themselves in an extremely disturbed manner about the rapprochement between the two countries.

A senior Israeli official said that "Europe is even more concerned than the US that Russia is becoming a player in the Iranian context, and that Iranian unmanned aerial vehicles will be operated by Russia in Europe."

Yesterday Russian President Vladimir Putin and Iranian President Ibrahim Raisi met in Samarkand.

The meeting was held on the sidelines of the summit of the eight leaders of the "Shanghai Organization" for regional cooperation (SCO), which will be held today in Uzbekistan.

Among the leaders is the President of China, Xi Jinping, who is leaving his country for the first time since the outbreak of the Corona epidemic;

Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi;

and the presidents of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.

In recent months, the cooperation between Russia and Iran has intensified, against the background of the war in Ukraine.

Iran was the first country that Putin visited after the invasion of Ukraine.

In July he met in Tehran with the supreme leader of Iran, Ali Khamenei.

At the beginning of the conversation with Raisi yesterday, the Russian president noted that this is the fourth time in a year that they have met.

President Putin and his Iranian counterpart Ebrahim Raisi (archive), photo: AP

Khamenei.

harmful effect,

Oil and UAVs

Other collaborations between the countries included the Russian purchase of unmanned aerial vehicles from Iran, while Moscow purchased oil from Iran that the international sanctions do not allow to sell freely around the world.

Russia also launched a satellite for the Iranians into space for the first time.

State Department spokesman Ned Price stated Tuesday in a media briefing that the Russian automobile industry can already be seen struggling following the US sanctions. According to him, "Russia is turning to countries like North Korea and Iran to fulfill what it feels it needs to conduct the war against Ukraine.

It's all a result of the steps we took."

US State Department spokesman Ned Price, photo: AP

Russian President Putin and Iranian President Rouhani, photo: AP

Gantz: "Iran has tripled its nuclear capabilities" // Photo: Daniel Rees

"No illusions"

Earlier this week, following the detection of Iranian drones in Ukraine, the American representative said that this was a "reminder of Iran's harmful influence, which it exports in many ways to the entire region and in this case far beyond that.

"We have no illusions about the nature of the Iranian regime... Every challenge we face - from Iran's ballistic missile program, through its support for terrorist groups, its support for Russia in this case, to its malicious cyber programs - each of these challenges becomes more difficult, if Iran There will be impunity for developing nuclear weapons. This is why President Biden is committed to Iran never obtaining a nuclear weapon."

were we wrong

We will fix it!

If you found an error in the article, we would appreciate it if you shared it with us