Russia’s Reluctance To Rein In Iran
It does not come as a shock that Dmitriy Medvedev, president of the Russian Federation, promptly rejected a clandestine deal supposedly proffered by the Obama administration to end plans for a European missile shield in exchange for Moscow’s help in ending Iran’s nuclear ambitions and long range missile program. Who can blame him? While much of the missile technology Iran is toying with comes from North Korea, its state of the art nuclear energy program is largely courtesy of the Russian Federation. Atomstroyexport, Russia’s state-owned monopoly dealing with exporting nuclear technology, is pretty much the whole reason Iran has a nuclear program.
They built the first Iranian nuclear reactor at Bushehr (at a one billion dollar price tag), which is due to come online later this year. Bushehr was originally part of a 20 plant network, though this ambitious plan has fallen by the wayside. Still, there is much talk of building a network of medium-sized reactors across the county, should Bushehr prove to be an effective and efficient supplement to Iran’s energy needs. I wonder who will be first in line to fill that contract?
Above and beyond this, Russia is in the middle of cutting a deal with Iran to supply ten years of nuclear fuel for the Bushehr plant. Has everyone forgotten that the original deal to build the Bushehr plant came with a guarantee that Russia would manufacture the rods and Iran would be required to return the spent fuel to the Federation? With Russia supplying the rods for the reactors, one has to wonder what all those centrifuges in Nataz are for?
Of course Iran is busy touting that they don’t need Russia’s help to finish building these reactors. It claims that even if Russia decides to leave tomorrow Iran’s nuclear plant will go online as promised. But why would Russia throw away this potential cash cow? Iran’s need for nuclear know how (accepting that it is only for peaceful uses) will only increase over time, and Atomstroexport is ideally situated to supply everything the Islamic Republic requires.
The partnership between Russia and Iran is decades old. For years Russia has supplied Iran with military hardware, especially its line of Sukhoi and MiG airplanes. Russia recently decided to freeze out a deal to sell the advanced S300 anti-missile defense system to the Shia-dominated state (a move that pleased Washington), but that might just be the sort of double-talk we’re hearing all over again from post-Soviet Moscow. Russia has repeatedly affirmed it will sell weapons to Iran and plans to extend no new sanctions against the Middle Eastern state.
From day to day it seems the Russian attitude towards Iran waffles, but its support of Iran never ultimately evaporates. Staunch despotism, clothed in Communist colors, has morphed into bloodthirsty state-run capitalism, and oddly the agenda remains the same. I suppose since the Russian government is still the only one making any money the plan wouldn’t change. Three cheers for government nationalization. All you Barack Obama fans should look into this fun trend (and what it does for the power of federal government) very carefully.
Events in South Ossetia should have shown the world how dependable the modern Russian state is when it comes to keeping its word. Making deals with Russia is an exercise in futility, particulaly when it threatens the bank accounts of the government. Trying to trade a missile shield in Europe for Russian aid in the Middle East sounds good on paper, but we should really stick with our tried and true allies in Europe. Depending on Moscow to deal with Iran on terms favorable to American and European goals isn’t in the cards, no matter what we offer to sweeten the deal.
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