By Majid Rafizadeh, Gatestone Institute—
While the European Union has leveled different kinds of sanctions on Russia, including restricting access to the EU’s capital and financial markets, the EU nevertheless continues to appease Moscow’s staunch ally, the world’s largest sponsor of state terrorism, Iran.
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is opportunistically using the humanitarian tragedy in Ukraine to spread the narrative that the war is not Russia’s fault, but rather that the West and the “mafia regime” of the US, which is trying to negotiate a new nuclear deal with the mullahs, are to be blamed. Meanwhile, he is trying to advance his country’s revolutionary principles and hegemonic ambitions and promoting his long-held anti-American and anti-Western policy.
Iranian politicians are also pointing the finger at NATO concerning the Ukraine crisis. Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, who was part of the “Death Committee” in the 1988 massacre, telephoned Russian President Vladimir Putin expressing his support and stating, according to Iran’s state-controlled Mehr News Agency: “The continued expansion of NATO is a serious threat against the stability and security of independent countries in various regions of the world.”
Many Iranians, meanwhile, in defiance of Iran’s regime, gathered outside the Ukrainian embassy in Tehran to express their support for the Ukrainian people, criticize the Iranian government for supporting Russia, and chanted “Death to Putin”.
As police began cracking down on the protesters, the Biden administration and the EU remained silent.
The protestors, however, mobilized on social media outlets and disseminated chants such as “the Russian embassy is a den of spies”, “Putin murders, the stupid ones support him”, “Long live Ukraine” and “Long live peace.”
No matter how much blood is shed in Ukraine, it is extremely unlikely that the Iranian regime will abandon its favorable policy towards Russia. As the current tensions continue between Russia and the West, based on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Moscow also finds no better geopolitical ally than the Iranian regime. The Ukraine crisis brings Russia and Iran’s theocratic establishment closer together, as both of them confront the West. Continue Reading….
