It clearly isn't of any use to Russia, because as you say their own stockpiles and nuclear arsenal is enormous but, unlike mose nuclear powers, they constantly talk of increasing it, and potentially actually using it.
Russia could easily supply Iran with weapons grade material if it wanted to anyway so it's all a moot point iny opinion.
Anyone who has nuclear weapons will potentially use them, as this is the point of nuclear weapons, no? Some suggest, as I previously posted here, nuking Iran, for instance.
As for increasing stockpiles, they certainly do not need (or want?) the Iranian HEU, I don’t think. They want it gone, just like most of anyone else. Remember the very first (I think it was first, fairly certain, but it has been a while) long-range radar Ukraine hit in Russia way back when, do you remember where it was pointed to? Iran. Russians have zero illusions about nuclear proliferation. Governing parties come and go, especially in the long run; nuclear programs and, more importantly, obtained knowledge remain (and so do nuclear weapons, accompanied by further developments in “rocket science”, etc). Which is also why Trump’s decision to unilaterally exit the JCPOA was, to say politely, extremely shortsighted.
So yeah, if Iran were willing to send their HEU to Russia as part of some deal, I would say farewell and shake hands, if that becomes an obstacle. I see zero issues with it.
Agree, I don't think Russia would ever supply HEU to Iran. That could open the door for others to supply HEU to countries Russia doesn't like.
The thing is, and to add to what I wrote above, once there is an established knowledge base, as is the case with Iran, they do not
need the uranium in question. They can always make more. They can also threaten to do so, which was their leverage prior to Trump 1.0, who didn’t buy the bluff and escalated things beyond the point of return. They lost that leverage, but it is being restored as we speak. Which is fine, really. As long as the “terms of trade” are reasonable.
As for opening the door, I am not sure that would be the case. The only country in the region who would be supplied with nukes or technology has already gotten them, whether by themselves or with external help (which did not open that door). History does not support this train of thought. Overall, those with advanced enrichment programs and knowledge base are relatively reasonable players, some (past and) recent developments aside:
www.armscontrol.org
That ^, by the way, is another example of Trump and his influencers (and US in general, but to a lesser degree) being completely unreasonable with Iran.
As a side note, the approach to the Iranian issue has been… poor, to say the least. Trying to strangle the regime (which on its own is (at least) a partial creation of the major player(s) involved) by strangling the population is completely unproductive. Especially given that the said regime has considerable resources, sufficient support base, and moderate propensity to “dispose” of their own citizens it is not happy (slash overly unhappy) with. It will never work (has it ever?). It has never worked with North Korea, it does not work with Russia (different universe example though), etc and not with Iran, neither in the past, nor present/future. Why does anyone think that the -insert people- think that the sanctions are to punish the regime in place and not the people themselves. Like back in the day, when the UA-RU war broke out, Biden and Euros were talking about the sanctions on the Russian government and explicitly stating that they are not targeting the people (laughing here). Remember the comedy? Ask those people what they think about the subject matter. At least now there is despair of honesty about that (that is, it’s the people and they will be punished until we are satisfied with our completely unreasonable expectations). It is basically the same as saying that people are happy to be bombed because it is against the regime they do not particularly like, so they welcome it. Sure, the latter is the next level of stupid, but not all that far from the former, really. Anyway, I am going to have a beer and watch something meaningless (Turning Point documentary series has been on the least for an eternity, it seems).
