Quote:
Originally Posted by Tchocky
Hardly. Economic sanctions have severely weakened the Iranian economy, perhaps to the extent of affecting the recent election. These sanctions would not be in place without the US pushing.
Not without credibility. Iran talks a tough line about the US, but that is for domestic consumption.
As for Russia it's hard to say. The Snowden mess has soured relations sure, but even there Putin is tired of the standoff.
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I certainly don't see Iran doing anything, not officially, they'll send arms and stuff but they won't declare war on the US, I doubt even the Ayatollah is that mad.
Putin on the other hand, has absolutely no reason to trust the US, or give in to its demands, he will block any UNSC resolution and will force the US to go around the UN to act, if it's going to act, which will discredit the US more than going through the UN.
Honestly it's really hard to tell, as you say, just how far Russia will go for its Syrian ally, they've cancelled weapons sales, so it could be that they're trying to find a diplomatic position to push the US away from strikes, but if they are then they're being far too subtle about it for the western world to pick up...but then, we've never been particularly good at understanding Russia.