US must wake up to the danger of Irans axis of evil ties to Russia, China

When Iran launched a brazen attack on Israel Tuesday, lobbing close to 200 ballistic missiles at America’s closest Middle Eastern ally, it did so in the comforting certainty that its actions would be supported by two nuclear powers and members of the United Nations Security Council.Russia reacted to the barrage by condemning not Tehran, but the United States in a statement parroted by Iranian state media.China, meanwhile, had already pledged “to support Iran in safeguarding its sovereignty, security, territorial integrity, and national dignity” against unnamed, but easily discernible, “external forces.”The convergence of world leaders on the UN’s headquarters in New York last week made plenty of headlines.Yet the most notable moment from last week’s gathering in Earth’s equivalent of the “Star Wars” Mos Eisley Cantina was best captured in a photograph: a posed portrait of the foreign ministers of Iran, Russia, and China alongside Pakistan’s defense minister.Ostensibly, the photo was taken to commemorate a meeting between the four men about the ongoing instability and humanitarian disaster in Afghanistan.But the disturbing subtext was the public debut of a dangerous new coalition.Following the meeting, Iran issued a press release that denounced “the destructive role of the US and NATO in Afghanistan.”“Washington and other NATO members must be held accountable for the current disastrous situation in Afghanistan,” Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi wrote, blaming America’s just war against the Taliban for causing a parade of horribles that began long before it.The statement was merely a pretense for such anti-West drivel, but it served to solidify the burgeoning alliance between Iran, Russia and China.Despite their differences, these three revisionist powers share a hatred of America, the values it champions and the world order it upholds — and they’re willing to spill blood to destroy it.The events of the last several years should have...