‘A New World Order’? The Iran-Russia-China Axis During the Biden Administration

As Winston Churchill famously pointed out, “I never worry about action, but only about inaction”. The Biden administration’s inaction has led to the creation of a new axis of tyrannies: Russia, China and Iran, with North Korea not far behind. As the Tehran Times, which has close ties to Iran’s foreign ministry, wrote: “[T]oday we are witnessing the formation of a new world order….

Iran, China and Russia recently conducted joint naval exercises in the Sea of Oman, dubbed Marine Security Belt 2023. Iran’s state-controlled Press TV boasted that to oppose the United States, China and Russia have also stepped up their “joint military exercises in recent years as part of their aligning of foreign policies.”

When these kinds of critical axes develop in the world among authoritarian regimes, they will most likely last for many years, if not decades. As US Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark Milley told lawmakers, the alliance among China, Russia and Iran would be a problem for the US. Speaking before the House Armed Services Committee alongside Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, Milley said that Russia and China are “getting closer together…. And then… Iran is the third. So those three countries together are going to be problematic for many years to come I think, especially Russia and China because of their capability.”

The Biden Administration has created a vacuum of leadership on the global stage, If the US further pulls out of Asia, the Indo-Pacific, the Middle East, Ukraine, Latin America — anywhere — the vacuum created will surely be filled by the new axis of China-Russia-Iran. A US pull-out is, most probably, just what they are hoping and waiting for.