{"id":294927,"date":"2024-09-16T07:05:53","date_gmt":"2024-09-16T07:05:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/?p=294927"},"modified":"2024-09-18T07:18:40","modified_gmt":"2024-09-18T07:18:40","slug":"alarm-in-uk-and-us-over-possible-iran-russia-nuclear-deal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/?p=294927","title":{"rendered":"Alarm in UK and US over possible Iran-Russia nuclear deal"},"content":{"rendered":"

Introduction \u2013 Sept 15, 2024<\/strong><\/h1>\n

The meeting reported below was given added impetus by an announcement a few days before by Vladimir Putin.<\/p>\n

The Russian leader had essentially warned the West that if it gave Ukraine the go-ahead to use long-range missiles it had recently supplied to strike targets in Russia Moscow would view this as an act of war. Not only on the part of Ukraine but also on the part of those nations that had supplied the missiles: namely Britain, the U.S. and France.<\/p>\n

In effect, with his announcement Putin established a redline for the West<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Although the issue was undoubtedly discussed, the meeting referred to below concluded without any announcement on the matter. According to the Guardian, this was \u201cto keep the Kremlin guessing.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, it may also be because the West had opted to back down in response to Putin\u2019s threat. Either way we will find out in the coming weeks.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile the Guardian claims: \u201cIran is in the process of enriching enough uranium to complete its long-held goal to build a nuclear bomb.<\/p>\n

This is little more than disinformation, dressed up as journalism. As in 2015 the Supreme Leader in Iran, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei declared that the acquisition, development and use of nuclear weapons contravened Islamic law<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Iran\u2019s alleged ambition to develop or acquire nuclear weapons has long been the source of much journalistic speculation. However, as with another topic that was once the focus of much journalistic speculation, Saddam Hussein\u2019s Weapons of Mass Destruction<\/a>, it may also be no more than journalistic speculation. Ed.<\/p>\n

Alarm in UK and US over possible Iran-Russia nuclear deal<\/strong><\/h1>\n

Dan Sabbagh \u2013 The Guardian Sept 14, 2024<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Britain and the US have raised fears that Russia has shared nuclear secrets with Iran in return for Tehran supplying Moscow with ballistic missiles<\/a> to bomb Ukraine.<\/p>\n

During their summit in Washington DC on Friday, Keir Starmer<\/a> and US president Joe Biden acknowledged that the two countries were tightening military cooperation at a time when Iran is in the process of enriching enough uranium to complete its long-held goal to build a nuclear bomb.<\/p>\n

British sources indicated that concerns were aired about Iran\u2019s trade for nuclear technology, part of a deepening alliance between Tehran and Moscow.<\/p>\n

On Tuesday last week, Antony Blinken, the US secretary of state, made a similar warning on a visit to London<\/a> for a summit with his British counterpart, David Lammy, though it received little attention, as the focus then was the US announcement of Iran\u2019s missile supply to Moscow.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor its part, Russia<\/a> is sharing technology that Iran seeks \u2013 this is a two-way street \u2013 including on nuclear issues as well as some space information,\u201d Blinken said, accusing the two countries of engaging in destabilising activities that sow \u201ceven greater insecurity\u201d around the world.<\/p>\n

Britain, France and Germany jointly warned last week that Iran\u2019s stockpile of highly enriched uranium had \u201ccontinued to grow significantly, without any credible civilian justification\u201d and that it had accumulated four \u201csignificant quantities\u201d that each could be used to make a nuclear bomb.<\/p>\n

But it is not clear how much technical knowhow Tehran has to build a nuclear weapon at this stage, or how quickly it could do so. Working with experienced Russian specialists or using Russian knowledge would help speed up the manufacturing process, however \u2013 though Iran denies that it is trying to make a nuclear bomb.<\/p>\n

Iran had struck a deal<\/a> in 2015 to halt making nuclear weapons in exchange for sanctions relief with the US and other western nations \u2013 only for the agreement to be abandoned in 2018 by then US president and current Republican nominee Donald Trump.<\/p>\n

Iran responded by breaching agreed limits on the quantity of enriched uranium it could hold.<\/p>\n

Western concern that Iran is close to being able to make a nuclear weapon has been circulating for months, contributing to tensions in the Middle East, already at a high pitch because of Israel\u2019s continuing assault on Hamas<\/a> and Gaza.<\/p>\n

Iran and its proxy in Lebanon, Hezbollah<\/a>, are supporters of Hamas \u2013 and Tehran\u2019s nuclear development is therefore viewed as a direct threat by Jerusalem.<\/p>\n

Soon after Vladimir Putin launched the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Iran began supplying Shahed delta winged drones<\/a> to Moscow and helped Russia build a factory to make more to bomb targets across Ukraine. In April this year, Iran launched a Russian-style missile and drone attack aimed at Israel<\/a>, though it was essentially prevented and stopped with the help of the US and UK.<\/p>\n

Russia and Iran, though not historically allies, have become increasingly united in their opposition to the west, part of a wider \u201caxis of upheaval\u201d that also includes to varying degrees China and North Korea, reflecting a return to an era of state competition reminiscent of the cold war.<\/p>\n

Last week in London, Blinken said that US intelligence had concluded that the first batch of high-speed Iranian Fath-360 ballistic missiles, with a range of up to 75 miles (120km), had been delivered to Russia.<\/p>\n

Able to strike already bombarded frontline Ukrainian cities, the missiles prompted a dramatic reassessment in western thinking as well as fresh economic sanctions.<\/p>\n

Starmer flew to Washington late on Thursday to hold a special foreign policy summit with Biden at the White House on Friday, beginning with a short one on one in the outgoing president\u2019s Oval Office followed by a 70-minute-long meeting with both sides\u2019 top foreign policy teams in the residence\u2019s Blue Room.<\/p>\n

The leaders and their aides discussed the war in Ukraine<\/a>, the crisis in the Middle East, Iran and the emerging competition with China.<\/p>\n

Starmer brought along with him Lammy, Downing Street\u2019s chief of staff, Sue Gray, and the UK\u2019s national security adviser, Tim Barrow; while Biden was accompanied by Blinken and Jake Sullivan, the US national security adviser, among others.<\/p>\n

Prior to the meeting, UK sources indicated that the two countries had agreed in principle to allow Ukraine to fire long-range Anglo-French Storm Shadow missiles into Russia for the first time. But Biden appeared to suggest the topic was one of the reasons for the face-to-face, saying to reporters: \u201cWe\u2019re going to discuss that now,\u201d as the meeting began.<\/p>\n

There was no update after the meeting, partly to keep the Kremlin guessing. Any use of the missiles is expected to be part of a wider war plan on the part of Ukraine aimed at using them to target airbases, missile launch sites and other locations used by Russia to bomb Ukraine.<\/p>\n

Britain needs the White House\u2019s permission to allow Ukraine to use the missiles in Russia because they use components manufactured in the US.<\/p>\n

Protocol dictated that Biden and Starmer \u2013 the only two present without printed-out name cards \u2013 did most of the talking, while the other politicians and officials present only spoke when introduced by the president or the prime minister.<\/p>\n

Lammy was asked by Starmer to update those present on his and Blinken\u2019s trip to Kyiv on Thursday to meet Ukraine\u2019s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Shortly after the meeting, Starmer said the two sides had had \u201ca wide ranging discussion about strategy\u201d.<\/p>\n

Source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Even if Russia hasn\u2019t shared nuclear secrets with Iran, there is evidence of growing military cooperation between what the Guardian refers to as the \u201caxis of upheaval\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":39262,"featured_media":294930,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[51,91],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-294927","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-Iran","category-russia"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/294927","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/39262"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=294927"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/294927\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":294942,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/294927\/revisions\/294942"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/294930"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=294927"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=294927"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=294927"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}