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** US Must Treat Iran Like Russia ([link removed])
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by Con Coughlin • September 19, 2022 at 5:00 am
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* [I]t is vital that the US and its allies confront the reality of Iran's expanding military operations around the world.
* While Tehran had denied the reports [that Iran had provided Russia with military-grade drones], Ukraine's defence ministry posted images of what appeared to be parts of a destroyed drone with "Geran-2" written on the side in Russian. The wingtip appeared to match that of a Shahed-136.
* This is, by any standard, amounts to a truly momentous escalation in Iran's military activities: it is the first time Iranian military equipment has been deployed on European soil.
* The fact that evidence has emerged demonstrating that Iran is actively supporting Russia's unprovoked aggression against Ukraine makes a mockery of this argument.
* If Iran is prepared to deploy sophisticated military equipment such as drones on European soil, then it is clear the ayatollahs would have no hesitation about firing their long-range ballistic missiles, potentially armed with nuclear weapons, at European targets.
* Iran's willingness to become directly involved in the deadliest conflict Europe has witnessed since the end of the Second World War represents a significant escalation in the threat Tehran poses to the outside world, one that Western powers ignore at their peril.
* Israeli Defence Minister Benny Gantz, addressing The Jerusalem Post Conference in New York last week, revealed a map showing more than ten facilities that Iran has constructed in Syria in recent years to produce mid- and long-range precision missiles that can be used to target Israel.
* This is not the action of a country that, as the Iranians repeatedly insist, is interested in peace, and should serve as a wake-up call to Western leaders to confront Iranian aggression in the same way they have confronted Russia over its decision to invade Ukraine.
* The West must now provide the same level of support to all those countries -- which now include Ukraine -- that find themselves the targets of unprovoked acts of aggression by Tehran.
* One of the most important lessons learned from the 1930s was that what starts in one place, such as Austria or Sudetenland, can almost be guaranteed not to stay in that place.

One of the most important lessons learned from the 1930s was that what starts in one place, such as Austria or Sudetenland, can almost be guaranteed not to stay in that place. In what amounts to a momentous escalation in Iran's military activities, Ukrainian forces claim to have shot down an Iranian-made Shahed-136 drone used by Russia's armed forces. It is the first time Iranian military equipment has been deployed on European soil. Pictured: The Iranian drone that was shot down near Kupiansk, Ukraine. (Image source: Ukrainian Armed Forces)

Now that even the Biden administration has been forced to admit defeat in its ill-considered attempts to revive the Iran nuclear deal, it is vital that the West does not let its guard slip on Iran's malign activities across the globe.

Throughout the year-long negotiating process in Vienna over Iran's nuclear ambitions, which the Biden administration now concedes have ended in stalemate, Tehran has sought to give the impression that it is interested in negotiating a deal, while at the same time ramping up its aggressive military activities in the Middle East and beyond.

Despite recent claims by European leaders that a new nuclear deal was still possible, Iranian intransigence has effectively ended the negotiations, with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken conceding that the latest demands made by Iran have taken the process "backwards".

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