It seems inconceivable that Biden’s handlers would move against the Islamic Republic that they’ve been so anxious to appease and reward, but their brinksmanship regarding Ukraine suggests that they do very much want a war, and maybe Iran will do as a pretext as much as anything else.
“Russia concerned about ‘escalation’ around Iran,” by Elena Teslova, Anadolu Agency, February 1, 2023:
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Tuesday that Russia is concerned about the “escalation” around Iran.
Lavrov criticized US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who said Washington considers “military options to stop Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons.”
The top Russian diplomat pointed out that religious leaders in Iran long ago issued a fatwa — a legal ruling on a point of Islamic law — prohibiting the development of nuclear weapons.
“The Iranian religious leadership has long issued a fatwa that prohibits the development of nuclear weapons. If anyone had doubts about this, the JCPOA (Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action) provided the most stringent and strict regime for verifying Iran’s nuclear program,” he said at a news conference in Moscow, following a meeting with his Egyptian counterpart, Sameh Shoukry.
He noted that it was the US who withdrew from the JCPOA, also known as the Iran nuclear deal.
“We believe that it is a huge mistake of the West. First of all, of the participants in the JCPOA for the Settlement of the Iranian Nuclear Program, they have taken a frank course to scrap this important document, which was approved unanimously by the UN Security Council.
“They prefer to ignore the resolutions of the Security Council and switch to aggressive actions, including the use of military force, instead of following the decisions of the highest UN body,” he said.
Lavrov confirmed that Shoukry conveyed to him Blinken’s message, which contains nothing but calls “to stop military operation” in Ukraine.
The minister argued that Ukraine does not matter at all, it is only a tool for the West “to prevent any events in the international arena that will somehow call into question the US claims to hegemony in the modern world.”
He cited words by NATO’s Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, who said: “Russia must lose, must be defeated, and the West cannot allow Ukraine to lose, because then the West will lose, the whole world will lose,” meaning the West-centered world.
He noted that despite statements about NATO’s non-involvement in the conflict in Ukraine, the alliance has long been taking part in a “hybrid war against Russia.”
Lavrov said the Russian army is “taking all measures to ensure that the plans of the West in Ukraine do not come true.”…
