00:00The US and Israel are fighting Iran militarily, but there are two other players in this conflict
00:06who haven't fired a single shot and they may end up winning the most.
00:11Those players are Russia and China.
00:14Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Arachiri has been on a whirlwind tour.
00:19After meeting mediators in Pakistan and Oman, he landed in Russia, making Moscow his most significant stop.
00:26He met President Putin in St. Petersburg, where Putin praised the Iranian people for fighting for their independence and sovereignty
00:35and said Russia was ready to do everything that serves Iran's interests.
00:41That's a very strong signal of diplomatic solidarity.
00:45Before Moscow, Arachiri met Oman's Sultan and Foreign Minister with their discussions focused on ensuring safe transit
00:53through the Strait of Hormuz, the waterway, through which about one-fifth of the world's oil and gas used to
01:00flow before the war.
01:03Russia isn't just offering warm words.
01:06According to reports, Moscow has been sharing intelligence with Tehran, satellite imagery and signals intelligence,
01:14helping Iran with targeting and damage assessment.
01:17It has also upgraded Iran's Shahid drones using lessons from its own battlefield experience in Ukraine
01:24and is reportedly sharing those improvements back with Tehran.
01:29But Russia's bigger gain is more subtle.
01:33The Trump administration waved sanctions on Russian oil to rein in rising energy prices, giving Moscow an economic windfall.
01:40And every day, U.S. is bogged down in the Gulf, Russia breathes easier on its western front.
01:48Now, China's game is more calculated.
01:50Reports indicate that more than 16 Chinese military cargo planes landed in Tehran within just 56 hours before the war
01:58intensified,
01:59believed to be carrying air defense systems, electronic warfare equipment and possibly anti-ship missiles.
02:05More recently, six Chinese military cargo planes reportedly landed in Iran during the ceasefire period,
02:12with cargo believed to include manned portable air defense systems and radar components.
02:19China sees no real strategic value in overtly entering the conflict.
02:23Instead, Beijing is trying to position itself as a continued friend to Iran,
02:28whose oil it heavily depends upon, while remaining outwardly neutral so it can maintain deniability after the war is over.
02:37On the diplomatic front, China has been presenting itself as a responsible peacemaker,
02:44measured statements, mediation offers and pushing for ceasefires.
02:51China and Pakistan jointly announced a five-point proposal calling for a ceasefire and resumption of normal navigation in the
02:59Strait of Hormuz.
03:00It looks like state sweatshift.
03:02But behind the scenes, the supply chains keep flowing.
03:07So, what does all this add up to?
03:09Think of it this way, when the US was consumed by wars in Iraq and Afghanistan after 9-11,
03:17China quietly rose to become the world's second largest economy.
03:21Now, with the United States enmeshed in the Gulf again,
03:26both Moscow and Beijing see history repeating itself in their favor.
03:30The core argument is this, neither Russia nor China wants Iran destroyed,
03:36but they also don't want Iran to win decisively.
03:40What they want is a long-draining, reputation-damaging conflict that keeps America busy,
03:47fractures its alliances with Europe and erodes the idea of a US-led world order.
03:53So far, they are getting exactly that.
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