China, Russia and Iran Are Slowly Ganging Up on the US
The leading autocratic states don’t have formal security alliances the way Washington does, but in some ways that makes them more dangerous.
Agreeing to mistrust?
Photographer: Greg Bakerl/Getty Images
Everywhere the US looks, its geopolitical rivals are making common cause. Russia and China proclaimed a strategic partnership “without limits” just before the former’s invasion of Ukraine. Iran is helping Russian President Vladimir Putin fight that war by providing him with military assistance. Beijing and Tehran have their own strategic relationship, one that’s been several decades in the making.
Washington doesn’t yet face a full-fledged alliance of hostile powers. But that’s the wrong way to think about the convergence between three countries that are increasingly united in their hostility to the US.