Written by Pepe Escobar
It’s as dark as it sounds. This is a direct path to a new world war. Will Shenzhen be able to prevent it? Don’t get your hopes up.
SHANGHAI – After spending 95 minutes on the phone with Mohsen Rezaee, the secretary-general of the Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) and the Iranian government’s number two, President Putin sent his private plane to Tehran three days later to take Rezaee and a small Iranian delegation to Moscow for a face-to-face meeting in the Kremlin.
The meeting lasted almost three and a half hours. And the decisive factor was that Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei was connected via encrypted telephone connection.
As a result, Moscow is now putting its strategic partnership with Tehran on a par with the strategic partnership with Beijing – the highest level. Extensive technological support and technology transfer are underway. Russia has already delivered twelve modern attack helicopters, a wide range of offensive and defensive equipment, and improved targeting capabilities through satellite and fiber optic drone technology.
In practice, this means that Tehran is even better prepared than before to repel a US attack and/or a death cult and to respond with overwhelming force. Russian engineers from NPO Mashinostrojeniya have already helped Tehran develop a ramjet engine for supersonic cruise missiles; in addition, an order was placed for 90 launchers for Iran’s Mi-28NE helicopters, which have been regularly photographed at Mehrabad domestic airport since the beginning of the year.
Translated: Every attack plan of the Epstein syndicate now meets an Iran, which Moscow equips with weapons, just as it arms its closest partner. In addition, the IRGC has de facto lifted its self-imposed missile range limit of 1,200 miles and is building additional underground production and storage facilities. The spokesman for the Iranian army confirms that Iran’s armed forces are “stronger” than at the beginning of the war on February 28.
CENTCOM, meanwhile, continues to carry out attacks below the threshold of an officially declared campaign – against an Iran that is now better equipped to respond.
However, the logic of the escalation ladder still applies. The Iron Gate Task Force is the new trick designed to stop “forbidden” goods (as determined by the pirate empire) by land and across the Caspian Sea, reducing the capabilities of both Russia and China.
The crux of the matter is that while the disoriented Trump administration picks up the pieces after the midterm elections in the wake of the “Blue-nami”, there could be some diplomatic efforts in the next two weeks or so before the chief psychopath decides how to launch a military attack on Iran.
This window of opportunity was created at the request of JD Vance. There is no indication that Team Trump wants to show any flexibility on Iran’s seven conditions; see Marco Rubio’s thoughtless outbursts.
Tehran, for its part, will not give in under any circumstances: the seven conditions must be met before possible negotiations begin. Moreover, virtually everyone in Tehran’s power corridors doubts that the opportunistic Vance has the power and influence to play the diplomat.
Invading Iran via Iraq
Rezaee left Moscow with great confidence, stressing that the long conversation had covered security in West Asia as a whole, the post-war period and cooperation on gas pipelines. Putin is “ready to cooperate in any way possible” to end the war.
However, the issue of S-400 systems is highly controversial. There is no credible information that Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei asked primarily for S-400 air defense systems in his personal letter to Putin delivered by Rezaee. However, cooperation on intercontinental ballistic missiles and hypersonic technology was agreed.
Meanwhile, on the Chinese side, Special Envoy Zhai Jun is preparing for a visit to Iran, Oman and Saudi Arabia. Talks in Shanghai confirmed that Beijing continues to pursue the following concerns: a sovereign, stable Iran; free trade in energy through the Strait of Hormuz; and security for its partners in the Gulf.
Beijing coordinates closely with Moscow. And before the decisive meeting in Shenzhen next week on the sidelines of APEC between Xi, Putin and Trump, he is tacitly bringing himself into play as a guarantor. The strategic partnership between Russia and China will take place in Shenzhen
have a unique opportunity to stop the current fatal chain reaction that may lead to a thermonuclear world war.
Iran’s calculation is to make a new Trump campaign so costly that it does not even start. Of course, Russia wants and needs Iran to stand firm, and now treats the country like China: as a first-class partner that it arms and equips without concluding a defense pact with it.
The sociopath-in-chief wants to exert maximum pressure without starting a declared war: «limited» attacks; an even stricter blockade; Iron Gate. Should the Epstein Syndicate move on to a full-scale war campaign, it will encounter rebuilt defenses, Russian helicopters, crucial outside target acquisition support, and a number of “surprises” from the IRGC.
The greatest caution is required when Shenzhen is used as a deceptive manoeuvre. The grim facts on the ground actually point to the implementation of the insane Iron Gate land siege plan, which is linked to the intention of blowing up 38 Iranian bridges – as the sociopath-in-chief has publicly admitted.
At the same time, the pathetic Iraqi Quisling government and the Islamic Resistance in Iraq have begun to threaten each other in earnest, in the run-up to what is now ominously exposed: plans for an imminent invasion of the oil-rich Ahwaz region of southern Iran by American troops stationed on Iraqi soil.
The Islamic Resistance has already warned Prime Minister Al-Zaidi that any attempt to arrest Shiite leaders would mean the fall of his government.
Meanwhile, the US Secretary of State, a “diplomat” by name who had not even bothered to take part in the negotiating kabuki, declared it to have already failed: “Iran’s demands (…) are not only simply unacceptable, but in some cases outrageous and ridiculous and truly unrealistic.”
As if all this wasn’t dark enough, CENTCOM has established a sort of attack rhythm and has been bombing Qeshm Island for 2-3 nights in a row now.
If and when CENTCOM’s Iron Gate attempts to attack Iranian facilities via land routes and/or the Caspian Sea, the spiral of escalation will definitely spiral out of control, and Iran’s retaliation will go beyond any previous measure.
It is as ominous as it sounds. To enforce an iron economic siege, the sociopath-in-chief and his henchmen are willing to blow up dozens of bridges and railroad tracks, stop Russia in the Caspian Sea (good luck with that), and physically cut off trade on Iran’s seven land borders.
What a path to a new world war. Will Shenzhen be able to prevent it? Don’t get your hopes up too high.
