Why China, Russia are moving closer to Iran

Gibson Nyikadzino Correspondent

The China-Iran-Russia triad has successfully recognised that any US victory against one of these countries is detrimental to the interests of the others and that any US failure strengthens all three nations.

Perhaps an appropriate way to begin this thesis is by taking a look at the commonly used phrase “international community” or global community. Public opinion in the framing of this term is usually based on the idea of writer, academics, media and intellectuals from the West who belong to a small group of people with power, authority and at times, wealth.

On many occasions when the phrase international community is used, there is a particular group that wants to get a certain position agreed on, a consensus or accord, on a ‘global’ issue to give it relevance and show how ‘serious’ the matter is.

Without being stated explicitly, the “international community” appears to be made up of North America (the United States and Canada), (Western) Europe, a few other nations that are unavoidable due to their strength or membership in the UN Security Council.

Also, countries with the appropriate historical, cultural, or, more specifically, racial background like Australia, Israel and New Zealand are also famed as members of this community. Despite representations as the “international community”, when these countries deliberate, it has not always reflected that their agenda is legitimate. Or that the views of their countries’ leaders do mirror the aspirations of their people, in a democratic fashion.

Thus, the “international community” worked heavily against Zimbabwe between 2000 and 2020, to give a tag to the African country as being an isolated, pariah, rogue or failed state by instigating illegal regime change activities.

The “other community”, however, dismissed the consensus and public opinion that the so-called international community sought to establish against Zimbabwe.

Based on their international alliance, this community stood “shoulder to shoulder” against Zimbabwe by creating narratives that promoted instability within Zimbabwe’s borders. During this time, it was China, Cuba, Iran, Russia and South Africa, among others, which stood firm with Zimbabwe.

This process has been implemented by the “international community” against China and Russia, but have failed because the two countries, plus the US, are the only three great powers the world has, hence difficult to sideline.

Likewise, there are strategic reasons why the “international community” is now keen on getting a consensus against Iran. These are the nations linked by a particular form of Eurocentrism, if not outright racism, that can also be interpreted as ethno-tribalism.

Western media, which carries traditional hostility Iran, has in the past few weeks trying to enrage the world against Iran as a policy of “Persian hatred” that was started by former US president Donald Trump.

The hatred has been thick such that the USA has always wanted an opportunity to “obliterate Iran”. This ought to be seen in the context that the US-led “international community” which has repeatedly used the threat of nuclear weapons against Iran.

At last year’s 78th Session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued a dark warning to Tehran, threatening the country with a nuclear attack.

“Above all, Iran must face a credible nuclear threat,” said Netanyahu.

This nuclear threat that the Israeli authorities later retracted saying Netanyahu had misspoken, is now viewed as war policy along the grain of this long anti-Iran history. Like President Trump, Prime Minister Netanyahu has repeatedly advocated for the “obliteration of Iran”, which essentially means use of weapons of mass destruction.

For instance, in May 2019, President Trump wrote on X (formerly Twitter) that “if Iran wants to fight, that will be the official end of Iran”.

In other posts, President Trump said that the United States would attack Iran with “great and overwhelming force. In some areas, overwhelming will mean obliteration”. These threats are genocidal in nature.

Because of these constant genocidal threats towards Iran, it becomes evident that other great powers take notice, hence China and Russia have and had no alternative but to move towards Iran as moral towers to diffuse the likely propensity by the “international community” bloc to use nuclear weapons. They have used nuclear weapons before. This is also important to ensure that Iran is not “isolated” because it is a regional power in south-west Asia to build a new alliance of strategic cooperation.

In Chinese and Russian official media outlets, Iran’s support has been formalised and given out with certainty. Against Iran, China has condemned the use of the US’ “long-arm jurisdiction”.

The long-arm jurisdiction treacherously permits the United States to contend that it has the authority to bring legal action against other nations based on domestic legislation rather than international law.

This US conceit has been so since the collapse of the USSR, a set of states including Zimbabwe and Iran, have faced the brunt of US force being called rogue states, pariah states, failed states and even labelled state sponsors of terrorism.

To try and separate China and Russia from Iran, key facts that need to be kept in mind include that the US imposed economic pressure on China leading to a trade war. Secondly, the US also deliberately destroyed relations with Russia, sanctioning the country and expanding NATO eastwards and threatening Russia’s security leading to a special military operation in Ukraine.

Furthermore, the US’ waging of economic warfare against Iran through sanctions heavily impacts China and other countries that will have difficulties to purchase Iran’s oil and to continue normal trade.

Such pressures have brought convergence to China, Iran and Russia in their resoluteness to defend the rest of the world against a racially skewed “international community” that only favours the US-led narratives that are detrimental to the interests of others.

This triad attraction and convergence is cementing as a reaction to the pressure from the West. US behaviour has initiated the speed at which this convergence has been made to enable increased future ties.

It should be therefore known that the “international community” is nothing but a bloc driven by westomania. This is among other reasons why the China-Iran-Russia triad is converging because if any of the three countries falter, the “other community” will also falter.