UANI Resource: Russian & Chinese Support Accelerates Iranian Disinformation Propaganda Campaign

(New York, N.Y.) – A new U.S. State Department report found that the Iranian regime is working with the Russian and Chinese governments to advance a propaganda and disinformation campaign against the U.S. Together, the report alleges, the three governments are exploiting the COVID-19 pandemic to disseminate a host of similar fallacious narratives against the U.S., including that COVID-19 is an American bioweapon.

United Against Nuclear Iran’s (UANI) resource, The Russia-China-Iran Axis, analyzes the relationship that the Iranian regime possesses with Russia and China, both of which have been historic enablers of Iran’s malign behavior and accelerators of anti-American messages through state-run media outlets. The present trilateral coordination and cooperation is an extension of the commitments each government has made to undermine the U.S. and extend their own interests and influence – and underscores the urgency of preventing the U.N. arms embargo from expiring on October 18, 2020.

China was one of the only countries willing to provide Iran with weapons and military equipment during the Iran-Iraq War, although it was also a large indirect supplier of military equipment to Iraq. China later emerged as a vital player in post-war reconstruction efforts and has remained engaged in the development of Iranian infrastructure, with a significant footprint in the construction of dams, factories, airports, roadways, and Tehran’s subway system. Iran is currently a linchpin in Beijing’s signature “One Belt, One Road” initiative, which aims to invest more than $1 trillion in infrastructure, connecting over 60 countries in Europe, Asia, and Africa.

Russia became virtually the sole supplier of Iran’s nuclear sector as international concerns mounted over Tehran’s illicit nuclear program, and early sanctions came into effect, taking the lead role in constructing the Bushehr nuclear reactor. To extend its influence through foreign military sales, Russia has also invested in Iran’s missile defense systems. For instance, it delivered the SA-20c SAM to Iran in 2016, which, according to the Director of the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency Lieutenant General Robert Ashley, provided Iran with “the flexibility of a highly mobile, long-range, strategic surface-to-air missile.”

To make business dealings between the Russian-Chinese-Iranian troika as cumbersome as possible, the Trump administration should work with Europe to ensure that China and Russia are unable to trade with Iran in dollars or euros. Chinese or Russian entities that attempt to skirt sanctions by, for instance, relying on small local banks to facilitate sanctioned transactions, should face punitive measures and loss of access to the U.S. market. As with European companies who may wish to engage in sanctionable activity using INSTEX, Chinese or Russian entities seeking workarounds to deal with Iran should face the full weight of U.S. sanctions enforcement.

To read UANI’s resource, The Russia-China-Iran Axis, please click here.

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