Russian President Vladimir Putin (L) speaks with Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi (R) during their meeting in Moscow on January 19, 2022. (Photo by Pavel BEDNYAKOV / SPUTNIK / AFP) (Photo by PAVEL BEDNYAKOV/SPUTNIK/AFP via Getty Images)
by Con Coughlin
- Iran’s efforts to conclude a revised nuclear deal with the Biden administration could result in the Kremlin receiving a windfall of half-a-billion dollars to fund its war effort against Ukraine.
- To boost its economy, Russia is now demanding that Iran pay in cash for the deals currently under discussion, as well as repaying outstanding debts believed to be worth more than half a billion dollars in cash owed for Russia’s work on the Bushehr facility.
- “Iran has promised Russia that it will pay its debt once Iranian funds held in the US are no longer under sanctions and become available for use,” a senior Western security official told me this week. “Furthermore, Iran has made transferring down payments to Russia for the purpose of implementing the military agreements between the parties conditional on reaching an agreement in Vienna.”
- Apart from offering to help the Kremlin evade sanctions, Iran is also believed to be working to engage China and enlist its assistance as well for the purpose of bypassing Western sanctions.
- Despite denials by the Iranian Foreign Ministry, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov was quoted by the Russian news agency RIA confirming that there has been coordination between the parties for the purpose of bypassing Western sanctions.
- Western security officials are concerned that any funds Iran sends to Moscow will be used to help fund Mr Putin’s war effort in Ukraine. There have already been reports of Iran providing weapons to support Russia’s war effort in Ukraine, and Moscow is desperate to find new ways of supporting its economy so that it can maintain its military offensive.
- The fact that Iran is actively seeking to provide Moscow with financial assistance which could be used to fund the war in Ukraine is deeply embarrassing for the Biden administration, which still shows no sign of ending its efforts to revive the nuclear deal.
- Certainly, if the deal does go ahead, enabling Iran to pay off its debts to Moscow, then the Biden administration could find itself accused of having the blood of innocent Ukrainian civilians on its hands for allowing Iran to fund the Kremlin’s war effort.