Russia, China Primary Impediments to Iran's Isolation

March 22, 2019 press@uani.com Russia, China Primary Impediments to Iran's Isolation New UANI Report Highlights Continuing Economic Ties (New York, N.Y.) - UANI's new report, The Russia-China-Iran Axis, analyzes the role played by Russia and China in preventing the complete economic isolation of the Islamic Republic. The EU has created a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV), known as INSTEX  (Instrument in Support of Trade Exchanges), to establish a U.S. sanctions-workaround. However, this will in all likelihood be ineffective. With INSTEX floundering, China and Russia will look to fill the vacuum created by Europe's retreat from Iran. "Russia and China have been historic enablers of Iran's malign behavior and appear eager to continue this disturbing pattern," said UANI CEO Ambassador Mark D. Wallace. "As UANI has repeatedly demonstrated, doing business with the regime in Tehran funds terrorism and puts lives at risk across the globe. By increasing their ties to Iran, both Russia and China are revealing the shallowness of their past commitments to fighting terrorism and controlling the spread of nuclear weapons." China provided a vital lifeline for Iran's energy sector at the height of the international sanctions regime under the Bush and Obama administrations. China also sells Iran ballistic missile components and conventional missiles, and plays a role in providing Iran sanctioned goods and services. Russia appears even less concerned than China over exposure to U.S. sanctions in its dealings with Iran. In July of 2018, Iranian official Ali Akbar Velayati, a key advisor to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, boasted that Russia stands "ready to invest $50bn in Iran's oil and gas sectors." Russia is also exploring ways to assist Iran in the civil aviation sector, after Boeing and Airbus scrapped plans to provide Iran with aircraft. Russia has also invested in Iran's missile defense systems, providing SA-20c Surface-to-Air Missiles to Iran in 2016. The UANI report concludes with recommendations for cutting off Iran's Chinese and Russian lifelines and reducing Iranian oil exports to zero. To explore the report, The Russia-China-Iran Axis, please click here. To read UANI Advisor Sir Graeme Lamb's op-ed, Dark money flows between Russia and Iran show how vital EU sanctions are against both, please click here. Recently, the Russian government directly attacked UANI and its CEO, Ambassador Mark D. Wallace, for efforts to dissuade Russian businesses from investing in Iran. To read UANI's response, please click here. United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) is a non-partisan, broad-based coalition that is united in a commitment to prevent Iran from fulfilling its ambition to become a regional super-power possessing nuclear weapons.  UANI is an issue-based coalition in which each coalition member will have its own interests as well as the collective goal of advancing an Iran free of nuclear weapons.