Russia Is Becoming a Big Iran And a Rogue State
As Iran has been aiding Russia with military equipment, we can say there is a new actor in the war against Ukraine. Will this change the position of Poland, and the European Union towards the conflict? Should EU Member States take more robust action against Iran and its destabilizing efforts? Watch our interview with Poland’s former Defense and Foreign Affairs Minister Radosław Sikorski M.E.P. to learn what brings Russia closer to Iran.
Poland is the country of “Solidarity” and Lech Wałęsa, an icon of a successful democratic and free market transformation. Its position should be the linchpin of the West – also when it comes to shaping relations with Iran, argues Radosław Sikorski. A Polish Member of the European Parliament and former Defense and Foreign Affairs Minister, he believes that Iran’s strategy towards Russia will not be easily changed unless the West takes decisive, robust measures.
“Iran is a theocracy, yet it collaborates with communist China and now kleptocratic Russia. This is a prime example of these autocracies creating a kind of axis, helping one another.”
– Sikorski explained.
The European Union should communicate to Iran, that if Tehran continues to support Russia with drones and missiles, it will be considered as a direct threat to a de facto ally of the EU. Sikorski believes Iran is helping Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, and a war of aggression is a crime according in international law. This is adding to a long list of Iranian crimes against the international order.
“Until the invasion of Ukraine, Putin had an alliance with China, and therefore was seen as a “smaller China”. But with this war, and with this cooperation with Iran, Russia is becoming a “big Iran”.”
– Sikorski said. He also observed that Putin, by degrading his own military and Russia as a country, is putting himself in a position of dependency on other autocracies and other rouge states.