The Russia-Iran-Turkey summit in Tehran on July 19 caused an outcry in the West.
"Vladimir Putin has showed it to the whole world that the special operation in Ukraine has not isolated his country from other states. Russia, Iran and Turkey are negotiating between themselves. The more countries we sanction, the more of them can unite their interests and create an alliance," Professor Mark Katz, freelancer at the Atlantic Council think tank and professor at George Mason University (Fairfax County, Virginia), said on CBS.
Interestingly, it was Mark Katz who, almost a year ago, on August 7, 2021, warned about the impending collapse of the unipolar system. In an article for The National Interest, Katz said that the end of the unipolar world was coming because America ceded the initiative in resolving conflicts in Syria, Lebanon and Yemen to Russia, Iran and Turkey.
The professor believes that so-called "rogue states" could easily find a field for joint efforts. As a result, the West should be wary of technology transfer. Thus, Iran may share the secret of the production of its highly effective drones with Russia. Most likely, it goes about long-range kamikaze-class UAVs. Reportedly, such type of aircraft was used on March 25, when Yemeni Houthis attacked Saudi Aramco oil storage facilities in the cities of Jizan and Yanbu el-Bahr, Saudi Arabia. Moreover, the much talked about American Aegis missile defense system could not shoot down those drones.
In fact, the exchange of defense technologies between Moscow and Tehran has already begun. It became known this month that Russia supplied low-altitude decimeter 39H6E Kasta 2E2 radar stations to Iran. Iran also received the Rezonans-NE station that detects stealth vehicles and even hypersonic targets. This radar could successfully detect F-35 fifth-generation fighter jet.
Today, nothing prevents Moscow and Tehran from creating a zone of total access ban — A2AD. In other words, they can make this part of the world unattainable for American control both from the air and from space.
Such an insurmountable barrier has already been deployed in the Kaliningrad enclave and in the region of the Crimean peninsula. NATO warships do not risk approaching the completely protected square of water area, which remains under the vigilant control of 3K60 Bal and K-300P Bastion-P coastal systems armed with Uranus and Onyx anti-ship missiles.
The Caspian Sea does bring Russia and Iran closer. Russia and Iran have repeatedly held joint naval maneuvers. At the same time, it is well known that the United States is stubbornly striving to gain access to this water area, trying to use the states adjacent to the Caspian Sea for its own purposes.
In the future, Tehran will be ready to buy state-of-the-art fighter jets and attack helicopters from Russia. It turns out that Russia has a free hand now. Russia can act on its own, without looking back to the West. This will certainly lead to the acceleration and development of military and technical cooperation.
Mark Almond, Director of the Crisis Research Institute, shares a similar point of view. On July 19, in an article for The Daily Mail, he wrote:
"Today there are fears that Putin is doubling down, and is now intent on turning his own nation — with a vast nuclear arsenal already in place — into another mega-Iran as far as the West is concerned. His meeting with hardline Iranian leaders in Tehran this week, along with another guest, Turkey's President Erdogan, was ostensibly to discuss Syria. But the summit is a showcase for a newly emerging anti-West, anti-democratic alliance stretching from the fringes of Eastern Europe to the South China Sea — with Mother Russia at its centre."
Columnists from a number of major Western publications — The Guardian, The New York Times, Military Watch Magazine and the Associated Press news agency — expressed similar opinions.
Ali Vaez, senior adviser to the President of the Crisis Group think tank, director of the Iran project, confirmed on July 20 that Russia and Iran could indeed exchange technology in the field of nuclear energy.
In general, the number of those people who live under the sanctions of the United States is now significantly larger than the number of US citizens and their satellite states. Speaking at Strong Ideas for a New Time Forum on July 20, the President of Russia said:
"The model of the total domination of the "golden billion" is unfair! Why should it dominate? Illusionary exceptionalism divides peoples into first and second grade nations, and is therefore racist and neo-colonial. Its globalist ideology increasingly acquires totalitarian features. It seems that the West is simply unable to offer its model of the future to the world. It is no coincidence that this billion became "golden", but it took its positions, in many respects, owing to the robbery of other peoples. Even today, the elites of this billion are terribly afraid that other centers may present their options of development."
Interestingly, the populations of the countries that the West has sanctioned is comparable to those of the United States and its allies:
Finally, China, India and the vast majority of African states, as well as most of the countries of Latin America, regard Russia as a friendly power, with which they want to develop economic and cultural relations. It turns out that in an effort to isolate Russia, the NATO countries have isolated themselves.
In addition to the political aspect and military cooperation, we would like to point out such an important issue as the creation of a new transit corridor from St. Petersburg to the Indian Ocean.
Over the past month, without a single shot being fired, Putin has resolved the issue that has been a problem for almost 200 years!
Russian goods can freely transit through Iranian territory. About ten days ago, Iranian First Vice-President Mohammad Mokhber welcomed the first Russian container train bound for India.
According to Khorasan Railways, the Russia-India corridor will increase transit volumes to a record 300 million tons per year. Containers travel across all of Russia to Astrakhan, then they get transported by sea to the Iranian port of Enzali, and then arrive at the southern port of Bandar Abbas in the Persian Gulf. From the Persian Gulf, bulk carriers will deliver the containers to their final destination — the Indian port of Nhava Sheva.
Both Tehran and New Delhi have already made it clear that they do not intend to reckon with any threats from Washington.
Thus, a new world is being built on the ruins of American exceptionalism. Thus passes the glory of the bygone pax americana era. Sic transit gloria mundi.