In the last few days, some of the US senior military officials publicly raised concerns about the renewed relationships between China, Russia, and Iran in both the Middle East and Africa.

The enduring crisis in Ukraine and Gaza is fueling the intertwining between the 3 countries creating a strategic undeclared alliance across all DIME factors (Diplomatic, Information, Military, Economic), which could threaten America and its allies’ position in both regions. Citing US Central Command head, Gen. Michael Kurilla, “What we’re seeing is that Iran is reliant on China and Russia is reliant on Iran.”

In accordance with the info provided, China is buying 90% of Iran’s oil, despite the US sanctions, meanwhile, Iran is providing thousands of drones and loitering munitions to Russia for its war in Ukraine, also delocalizing its factories on Russian territory. USCENTCOM has not provided info regarding how Russia is paying back this support, implying that this kind of information is classified. The military cooperation between the three countries is also confirmed by the increasing number of trilateral military exercises, such as the one recently conducted between their naval forces in the North Indian Ocean and the Sea of Oman, dubbed as the “Maritime Security Belt”. All indicators show China's intention to likely leverage Iran to expand its presence in the Middle East dodging the US one.

The same situation can be observed in the African region. US Africa Command Chief, Gen. Michael Langley, echoing his colleague, has raised his worries about the Russian and Chinese increased footprint in Africa. He reported their malicious behavior as being very exploitative, when possible, but being coercive when necessary, trying to replace the US influence in any corner of the continent. In Africa, they are collecting significant successes, despite the American soft power executed by USAID and the State Department.

The role played by Iran and its proxies’ network in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Gaza, the West Bank, and Yemen, is threatening both the regions and some of the most vital trade routes in the world. Despite this threat, Lt. Gen. Alexus Grynkewich, Commander of US Air Forces Central (AFCENT), during a meeting with some reporters, deescalated the previous reports stating that the Iranians are not interested in a broader regional conflict. In accordance with his assessment, Tehran is not courting a wider war but only taking advantage of the crisis, surviving the sanctions, with no intention to go to war with anybody else. Unfortunately, this assessment could not survive the expected Iranian reaction to the Israeli strike on an Iranian diplomatic compound in Damascus, Syria, that killed top Iranian military and intelligence officials.

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