Regrettably, the effects of U.S. President Donald Trump’s war in Iran, with oil prices rising and Trump’s lifting of Russian oil sanctions, have been massively helpful to Russian President Vladimir Putin. In fact, the war provided the exact lifeline that Putin needed to rescue him from economic catastrophe. 

Now, Putin is providing assistance to Iran in the form of munitions, money, and intelligence, effectively prolonging the war. Reciprocally, Iran is helping Putin prolong his invasion of Ukraine. 

Puppeteers like Putin manipulate their characters’ movements by pulling several strings at once, not just one. Accordingly, Putin appears to have his hands on quite a few strings, with U.S. intelligence reports confirming this linkage of Russia to the Mideast. For months, multiple U.S. intelligence agencies have documented Russian intelligence assistance to Iran against America.

Just last week, when asked about Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s warnings that Russia is apparently passing satellite images of American bases to Iran to strengthen their missile attacks, Trump said, “We’ll find out if that’s true. I’ll ask Putin about it.” Experts agree it’s true; but the question is whether Trump is ready to confront Putin about it. Perhaps that’s why he decided to give Ukraine a license to produce Patriot interceptors, and endorsed the Russian sanctions bill. 

Putin’s assistance to Iran comes as he is reaping windfalls from higher oil prices. Until these higher prices bailed him out, Putin had been overseeing a seeming Russian economic collapse, as we documented extensively before with the Russian economy imploding in plain sight. Foreign direct investment in Russia has fallen from $100 billion a year to close to zero, amidst the exodus of over 1,000 global businesses. Now, Putin is running enormous........

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