Here is the Iran cornermen’s score, according to an independent intelligence assessment at general rank:

Iran has fissile material ranging from 80% to 90% enrichment. They have created casing for packing the fissile material and only need to insert the ball to create the desired over-pressure. Cold testing has been done with the help of North Korea, facilitated possibly by China. Additionally, they believe that if push comes to shove, they could create low-yield weapons ranging from five to twenty kilotons. Also, the enriched uranium had been shifted before the attack, and it is not difficult to start the centrifuge process again. Consequently, it seems the US targeting may not have delivered the results desired. At best, the programme has been crippled but nowhere near obliterated as claimed by Trump. Insofar as its options are concerned, Iran is unlikely to open a front against the US just yet. It will concentrate its attacks on Israel, making it look weak and vulnerable.

A Moscow source comments: “This [war] is not ending. This is not the beginning of any end either. The Iranians have been hurt and damaged; they are bleeding. No one should underestimate what’s been done to them. No one should underestimate the scale of the internal bleeding. But with that, the state, the Islamic Republic, however difficult as a partner, must remain. That’s the key. Russians and Chinese can’t do it by themselves. No amount of logistics and materiel can. ”

When the US air raids targeted the three Iranian nuclear sites of Fordow, Natanz, and Esfahan early Sunday, the battle between the Islamic Republic and its enemies entered a very dangerous and strategic phase.

The Iranian military forces continued the battlefield confrontation with the enemy, dealing the 21st blow to the Zionist entity in the context of the Operation True Promise 3.

In parallel, Tehran’s diplomacy moved to mobilize the allies in order to reinforce the confrontation with the enemies.

Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has arrived in Moscow to hold ‘serious consultations’ with President Putin following the US airstrikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities.

In addition to the inevitable condemnation of the US aggression and serious assault on Iran’s nuclear sites, the meeting discussed the means of military cooperation.

Unprovoked aggression against Iran has no basis or justification, Putin stated.

“Russia has been a partner and companion of Iran over Iran’s nuclear issue. It has also been present in the nuclear negotiations,” Araghchi said.

The Russian affairs expert, Ahmad Hajj Ali, told Al-Manar that Russia will activate the strategic pacts with Iran in order to reinforce the military cooperation, adding that the US support to Kiev can justify the Russian moves in this regard.

Hajj Ali highlighted the statement made by Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov that the Russian aids to the Iranian people, as said by Putin, would depend on Iran’s needs.

The Russian technical and military aids to Iran would be in parallel with the Russian initiative to end the dispute though the US aggression on Iran complicated the already complex mission of Moscow.

Hajj Ali said that, under the current circumstances, it is reasonable to expect that Iran will soon request strategic defense components from Russia, including:

– Early warning systems for missile attacks: long-range radar stations (for example, long-range radars or mobile radars integrated with existing Iranian air defense components)

– Air defense systems: from additional S-300 PMU2 batteries (which have already been delivered) to discussions about the possibility of transferring additional S-400 missiles in the export version or Buk-M2E for medium coverage

If the Russian Federation has the ability to quickly supply Iran with a large number of Su-30 or Su-35 fighter jets, the Islamic Republic may soon request them, Hajj Ali added.

Two other countries are likely to join the military-technical cooperation as security guarantors: China and North Korea, the latter of which we have previously written about its capabilities in arming Iran with modern weapons, Hajj Ali concluded.

Source: Al-Manar English Website