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The War in Ukraine Is Not Necessarily Playing into Iran's Hands
(Ha'aretz) Yossi Melman - Western intelligence assessments that the Russians would capture Kyiv within 48 hours of a blitzkrieg turned out to be wrong. At the same time, we mustn't underestimate the Russian war machine. The war in Ukraine will continue to have repercussions on the campaign Israel is conducting against Iran in Syria, on the nuclear deal, and on Iran's aspirations for regional hegemony. Putin has been repeating his doctrine for years: Russian nationalism and a return to the glory days of the Tsarist empire and the Soviet Union as a superpower. For him, the disintegration of the Soviet Union was "a historical tragedy." The conquest of all of Ukraine, or parts of it, or the establishment of a puppet government in Kyiv, will only increase his appetite. Some say the war in Ukraine reduces the chances of signing a new nuclear agreement with Iran. In my opinion, the war came at a bad time for Iran, which very much wanted to return to the 2015 agreement and to be freed from sanctions. The Iranians are also drawing conclusions from the uniting of the ranks demonstrated by NATO and the European Union, and from their determination to make Russia a pariah state, concerned about the strength the West is demonstrating at the moment.