By Meir Javedanfar
Iran’s leadership may be hoping that Beijing and Moscow will step in and help it with the West. But it’s not in their interests to do so.
Vladimir Putin has returned to the Russian presidential office. And, if his previous record as president is anything to go by, he’s likely to take an even tougher line against the U.S. over Iran.
This comes at a time when U.S. relations with China have been tense. Indeed, U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta used a recent visit to Vietnam to underscore how the United States intends to back its allies in the Asia-Pacific region and help them enforce their rights in the South China Sea, an area that Beijing claims much of. Such sentiments are unlikely to have been well received by China's leaders.
Against this backdrop, China and Russia are both veto wielding members of the U.N. Security Council, as well as members of the P5+1 group, which is negotiating with Iran over its nuclear program. The Iranian government could therefore be forgiven for seeing a diplomatic opportunity on the horizon, and Tehran can be expected to attempt to seize the moment by trying to create a rift between the rest of the P5+1 and Russia and China.
Indeed, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will likely have used his meetings with Putin and senior Chinese officials on the sidelines of this week's Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit for this very purpose. The question that should be asked, though, is this: how much mileage can Tehran get from such discord?
The answer is likely not much.
Read the full 2 page story at The Diplomat