European disarray pushes Iran, Turkey into China camp
The surprise announcement in July that Iran was negotiating a wide-ranging, 25-year bilateral deal with China has rumbled through the capitals of the Middle East and the West for two months now. So vital does Iran consider this deal for its future strategy that no amount of domestic politics could undermine it.
In fact, the results of Iran’s second round of parliamentary elections last weekend have underscored it. With no change to the conservative majority in parliament – conservatives in the country are traditionally suspicious of any interactions with the West – the long, slow death of Iran’s budding rapprochement with the West is all but certain.
A similar situation is occurring in Turkey, where Ankara’s war of words with its NATO partners is escalating into concrete actions – cash-strapped Greece has just announced its biggest weapons acquisition this century.
Underlying both of these years-long developments is the general disarray of Europe.
As much as leaders of both Iran and Turkey talk about seeking policy independence, in truth both need partners. Tehran and Ankara were hoping they would find those partners in Europe. But Europe is so busy with its own infighting that it has little time for anything beyond its borders. With no clear path toward Europe visible, Iran and Turkey have started breaking ground on a path away from it.
https://asiatimes.com/2020/09/european-disarray-pushes-iran-turkey-into-china-camp/
I'd expect Turkey, Iran and Pakistan to develop closer ties to Russia, China and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization states. The linkage of those three also make Afghanistan, Georgia, and the rest of the states of the Caucuses and Central Asia "dead stones" in the terminology of Go. Turkey could also deny Western Navies entry to the Black Sea.
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