Russia’s image as a reliable ally has suffered yet another blow as Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed in joint U.S.–Israeli strikes across Iran on Feb. 28, marking a fresh outbreak of hostilities in the Middle East.

So far, Moscow’s response to the U.S.–Israeli bombardment of hundreds of targets in Iran has been limited to diplomatic support for Tehran, even as U.S. President Donald Trump has openly called for a change of regime.

The latest development highlights Iran’s junior role in its partnership with unsteady Russia, while Moscow’s focus on the war in Ukraine leaves it little means to rush to Tehran’s aid.

MBFC
Archive

      • ViatorOmnium@piefed.social
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        73
        ·
        1 day ago

        I mean, in the last 4 years they only failed Armenia, Syria, and Venezuela, so who could have predicted they wouldn’t show up for Iran? /s

        • gravitas_deficiency@sh.itjust.works
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          40
          ·
          1 day ago

          Russia just gave them some brand new Su-35s, and Iran has furthermore been a crucial strategic supplier to Russia in the Ukraine war (which, by the way, is where Ukraine’s support for taking out Iranian leadership comes from - you can’t expect sympathy from the country that’s you’ve systematically been helping Russia fuck over). Iran was basically the most crucial “pariah state” ally that Russia had, and they’ve been effectively swept of the board as a strategic threat and military industrial power.

      • Mihies@programming.dev
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        8
        ·
        1 day ago

        Did they, though? What exactly did they expect from Russia beyond selling them weapons, which Russia probably did?

        • Hubi@feddit.org
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          15
          ·
          edit-2
          1 day ago

          Iran was selling weapons to Russia, not the other way round. Russia had no capacity to export any weapons these last two years, as *emphasized by their attempts to buy back the S-400s they sold to Turkey or having to import North Korean artillery.

    • Tetragrade@leminal.space
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      2
      ·
      edit-2
      17 hours ago

      Putin could have blocked 1 hellfire missile with his face and maybe the Ayatollah would still be around (if we assume the extreme lower bound of the estimate of US missile stocks).

  • Triasha@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    12
    ·
    1 day ago

    Russia can’t even show up for Russia. I doubt Iranians thought Russia would launch nukes for them.

  • TheTechnician27@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    67
    ·
    1 day ago

    After Iran sent so much materiel to Russia for their genocidal invasion of Ukraine, this is the one very tiny bright spot of this catastrophe.