The readouts from the U.S. and Russian side about yesterday’s phone call between President Trump and President Putin has me concerned about the potential of another war in the Middle East.
The Russian readout has 674 words. It is quite specific about Ukraine issues. There is a two sentences paragraph about the Middle East:
Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump also addressed some other international issues, including the situation in the Middle East and in the Red Sea region. Joint efforts will be made to stabilise the situation in the crisis spots and establish cooperation on nuclear non-proliferation and global security.
What those ‘joint efforts’ might be is not specified.
With just 227 words the U.S. readout is much shorter. There is much less on Ukraine. A whole one fourth of the readout is with concern to the Middle East:
The leaders spoke broadly about the Middle East as a region of potential cooperation to prevent future conflicts. They further discussed the need to stop proliferation of strategic weapons and will engage with others to ensure the broadest possible application. The two leaders shared the view that Iran should never be in a position to destroy Israel.
Iran, not mentioned by the Russian’s, is mentioned in the context of nuclear (‘strategic’) weapons.
Iran seems to be the next item on Trump’s international meddling list.
Recently leaked documents point to major U.S. planning for a war with Iran. The suddenly renewed U.S. bombing of Yemen, despite no recent attacks by Ansarallah on international shipping, seem to be a provocation towards that:
Tehran has begun circling the wagons as a new phase is beginning in Trump’s foreign policies, with tensions rising steadily over the nuclear issue. The October deadline is drawing closer by the day for invoking the snapback clause in the JCPOA (2015 Iran nuclear deal) to reinstate UN Security Council sanctions will expire, and Iran’s enrichment programme, on the other hand, has apparently reached a point where it already has a stockpile to make “several” nuclear bombs, per the International Atomic Energy Agency.
Iran however has Russian and Chinese backing:
On March 14, China’s foreign minister Wang Yi hosted a joint meeting in Beijing with the Russian and Iranian deputy foreign ministers where he proposed five points “on the proper settlement of the Iranian nuclear issue”, which, for all purposes endorsed Tehran’s stance. It was a resounding diplomatic victory for Iran.
Interestingly, the Beijing meeting was timed to coincide with the conclusion of a 6-day naval exercise at Iran’s Chabahar Port with the theme of Creating Peace and Security Together between the navies of Iran, Russia and China.
…
Moscow has lately waded into the Iran nuclear issue and is positioning itself for a mediatory role potentially. Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov recently came out against attaching extraneous issues (eg., verifiable arrangements by Tehran to ensure the cessation of its support for resistance groups in Iraq, Lebanon, and Syria) to the nuclear negotiations. Lavrov said frankly, “Such a thing is unlikely to yield results.”
Before the renewed bombing of Yemen Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Foreign Minister of Russia Sergei Lavrov had their own phone call. The short U.S. readout said:
The Secretary informed Russia of U.S. military deterrence operations against the Iran-backed Houthis and emphasized that continued Houthi attacks on U.S. military and commercial shipping vessels in the Red Sea will not be tolerated.
It did not mention that Russia spoke out against it:
The Russian Foreign Ministry, in a readout on Saturday, stated that US Secretary of State Marco Rubio called Lavrov and informed him about the US decision to attack the Houthis. It said Lavrov, in response, “emphasised the need for an immediate cessation of the use of force and the importance of all parties engaging in political dialogue to find a solution that prevents further bloodshed.” Well, the shoe is on the other foot now, isn’t it?
Trump seems to believe that he can gain Russia’s support, or at least its neutrality, in a futile conflict with Iran, by offering to end the U.S. proxy war in Ukraine.
Russia however seems to completely reject such plans.
Reprinted with permission from Moon of Alabama.
