Iran comes in from the Cold

[Zoraptor]

Nah, as things stand Iran basically cannot 'go with' the west even if it wanted to- while UN sanctions have/ are being lifted the US still has its own set in force and most western companies don't want to fall foul of them due to US courts' tendency to randomly hit them with massive fines. Waiting for those to go means Irans would be standing still for even longer, so Russia and China it is since they don't give any asterisks for the unilateral US sanctions and never have. Plus of course there are many members of congress and presidential candidates saying they'll bin the agreement that should eventually lift those US sanctions, so betting on western investment is a poor option at present.

 

Militarily, Russia has the best SAM systems available which are very important if you're worried about being bombed by some moronic McCain wannabe or Bibi trying to attract right wing votes. They're also demoing a lot of arms in Syria to pretty good effect and which are if not being used by are certainly being seen by lots of Iranian proxies and irregulars.

 

In the longer term Iran could look at trying to split the US/ Saudi axis or the US may look at switching to Iran from Saudi which would lead to US arms and US investment, but that's years off realistically.

[BruceVC]

You should forward that post to the president of Iran, maybe he doesn't know what he is getting into with Russia or maybe they just want their military power and have other plans to keep them afloat. I hear the petrodollar might be in danger.

 

This might be one of those situations where having a state with all the power might be a benefit, since social  planning becomes very easy. Yet it comes at the expense of individual growth and instead favors foreign investors, which may be why Russia has been cultivating relations foreign private investors.

Well its important to  remember that Russia is a very relevant  member of the global community despite it economic woes, for example it sits on the UNSC and has certain relationships with countries like Iran that are better than a relationship any Western country has with Iran. So the important Iranian negotiations would not have been possible if Russia hadnt also been part of it

 

Also as far as military spending is concerned I don't believe Putin has made any cutbacks so Russia definitely has one of the worlds most  well resourced military powers which I'm sure would defeat most countries 

 

And his approval rating is very high, higher than most Western leaders ironically because for many Russians Putin is  a real hero who is trying to restore Russian pride against the West which is trying to undermine Russia ( of course this is not true, it makes no sense for the West to undermine Russia )

 

So I would imagine for your average Russian who supports Putin they have convinced themselves that in order for Russia to be restored to former glory they need to accept these  sanctions. And as I mentioned Putin is using foreign reserves to sustain the economy and the unemployment rate is only 6 % so all the negative data I mentioned would only really impact them in 2-3 years

 

So its no surprise Iran would publicly align with Russia  because the clergy in Iran and the hardliners really despise the West and this dislike is ideological which makes it difficult to change. So any country is better than any Western country for Iran

[BruceVC]

Nah, as things stand Iran basically cannot 'go with' the west even if it wanted to- while UN sanctions have/ are being lifted the US still has its own set in force and most western companies don't want to fall foul of them due to US courts' tendency to randomly hit them with massive fines. Waiting for those to go means Irans would be standing still for even longer, so Russia and China it is since they don't give any asterisks for the unilateral US sanctions and never have. Plus of course there are many members of congress and presidential candidates saying they'll bin the agreement that should eventually lift those US sanctions, so betting on western investment is a poor option at present.

 

Militarily, Russia has the best SAM systems available which are very important if you're worried about being bombed by some moronic McCain wannabe or Bibi trying to attract right wing votes. They're also demoing a lot of arms in Syria to pretty good effect and which are if not being used by are certainly being seen by lots of Iranian proxies and irregulars.

 

In the longer term Iran could look at trying to split the US/ Saudi axis or the US may look at switching to Iran from Saudi which would lead to US arms and US investment, but that's years off realistically.

I dont disagree with what you saying but what I find interesting is Russia and China also supported the Iranian sanctions....this is what made them so effective. The whole world literally was united on sanctions against Iran

 

Yet Iran is fine with China and Russia but still resents the West