It has now been almost a week since US forces struck Iranian nuclear facilities and Russia is still sitting on the sidelines. Beyond the strongly worded condemnations of the US attacks and promises of unspecified help to the Iranian people, Vladimir Putin has not announced deliveries of any specific military hardware to Tehran. That, despite the fact that, in January, Moscow and Tehran signed a 20-year comprehensive strategic partnership treaty, which includes military-technical cooperation. What gives? For now, the heat appears to have gone out of the conflict , but Putin still faces a conundrum. The Iranian regime remains in a precarious position, and it is uncertain that the current ceasefire will hold. Failing to deliver tangible support to Iran could result in Russia losing an ostensibly valuable ally, friendship with whom Moscow likes to brandish as a bogeyman whenever it wants to threaten the West. But if Putin were to decide to help Tehran re-arm, perha...
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