During a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing prior to the congressional recess, Rep. Thomas Kean Jr. (R-NJ) questioned Norman T. Roule, non-resident Senior Advisor of the Warfare, Irregular Threats, and Terrorism Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, about Iran and Russia’s relationship.
00:02I now recognize Mr. Cain, Representative Cain from New Jersey, for five minutes.
00:08Thank you, Madam Chairwoman, and thank you to our witnesses for being here today.
00:14Mr. Ruhle, what type of support is Russia providing to Iran's nuclear program,
00:20and what role is Russian state-owned energy giant Rosatom playing in supporting Iran's nuclear ambitions?
00:30Mr. Russia's role in the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action was limited to support for the Bushere civilian nuclear power plant on Iran's southwest coast.
00:45The development of that plant, there were discussions on the perhaps building of other nuclear power plants in the country,
00:52and part of the deal under JCPOA was that, in essence, Iran would send spent nuclear fuel to Russia in exchange for fresh nuclear fuel.
01:03Now, that, of course, stopped when Iran ceased to do this.
01:08I think the most important question is, is Russia providing Iran with capabilities to allow it to move closer to a nuclear weapon?
01:15Now, there is no public information, of which I am aware that that is occurring, and it is also a fact, however, that Russia does have a presence in country through Bushere,
01:28and that were we to have a multilateral negotiation with Iran on its nuclear program, Russia would be a prominent part because of that element.
01:38China, as well, because of China's role with the Iraq power plant, its former plutonium plant, which is due to come online in 2026.
01:48And what types of support is Russia currently providing Iran's proxies, and what does Russia hope to gain from its outreach to the Houthis,
01:59and what might trigger the Kremlin to step this support up or decrease it?
02:04There have been reports that Russia has attempted to provide weapons to the Houthis and that diplomatic pressure from regional actors have prevented this,
02:14and Russia may have told these actors that the purpose of this support was to complicate the lives of Western powers who were supporting Ukraine.
02:25There has also been some reporting of Russian weaponry that has found its way to Hezbollah,
02:31although the evidence of Russia's direct engagement with Hezbollah is more tenuous.
02:37And Russia has, of course, provided intelligence engagement with its counterparts in Iran on how to defeat Western intelligence.
02:48So, in your view, what, therefore, does the Iranian regime hope to gain from its increasingly cozy relationship with the Kremlin,
02:57and what threat does that pose to U.S. national security priorities?
03:00Although Russia is sometimes a competitor with Iran, it is a malign actor, and its support with – it has blocked all pressure on Iran at the United Nations.
03:16So, for example, regarding Yemen, Iran is – Russia has made sure that there has been no significant investigation of Iran's support for the Houthis at the United Nations for many years.
03:26So, Russia's support for Iran is significant, it is malign, it is pervasive, and it impacts the global economy.
03:35Are there points of friction within that bilateral relationship that the U.S. could effectively exploit?
03:43I'm not aware of many, but Dana, do you have anything you'd like to add on that?
03:47I think the bottom line here is that Russia and Iran share the objective of challenging the United States, our influence, and our investment in the current global and international order.
04:03And that strategic convergent is stronger than any wedge we might want to drive between the two.
04:09Thank you all for your testimony here today, and I'll yield back.
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