The Nuclear Circle of Trust: Iran, Syria, Pakistan, North Korea and China

The war in Syria may be much more important than initially thought. Even though I still maintain that presently there's no alternative to Bashar al-Assad, I also admit that after a viable candidate is found, he has got to go. Syria is connected to Iran, Iran is connected to Pakistan and North Korea (NK) which are intimately connected to China – Russia is connected to all. This circle poses a huge international security problem.

The Syrian Nuclear Programme

In 2007, Israel blew up a nuclear reactor, in Syria, that was a replica of a North Korean nuclear site. The existence of such a plant indicated that North Korea was helping Syria to develop its nuclear programme. However, the Syrian ambitions were squashed, even if only temporarily. In 2013, evidence emerged that al-Assad was still developing nuclear weapons in an underground location, in Marj as-Sultan – by this time, the Syrian civil war was still in its infancy.

The facility, located not far from a Syrian army base, had become the focal point of heavy fighting with rebels. Government troops had to quickly move everything of value. They did so, as intelligence officials have been able to reconstruct, with the help of Hezbollah, the radical Shiite "Party of God" based in Lebanon. The well-armed militia, which is largely financed by Iran, is fighting alongside Assad's troops. - Der Spiegel

On the 30th of September 2015, Russia officially joined the Syrian civil war with the official intention "to fight and destroy militants and terrorists on the territories that they already occupy, not wait for them to come to our house” but what if Moscow got involved to protect vital weapon and nuclear sites? From what we heard, Russia also had chemical weapons stored in Syria, the same way Saddam hid his there. Which of these weapons were turned over in 2013, in that famous deal signed between President Obama and President al-Assad, mediated by the Kremlin – the deal that brought Russia back to the international limelight?

The chemical weapons were allegedly removed but the nuclear ones may have stayed behind; and we suspect that that was one of the reasons why Russia joined Damascus in fighting ISIS and rebels – they could never put their hands on those weapons.

The Iranian Nuclear Programme

Iran has been fooling the world since the 1980's regarding its nuclear ambitions; and not even the successive sanctions prevented the Ayatollahs from pursuing nukes, much due to the expansion of Hezbollah's business networks in Africa and in Latin America – where they acquired natural resources to produce the nukes and where they got sufficient revenue to guarantee the survival of the Revolutionary Regime.

In 2015, Iran and the P5+1 signed the JCPA, known as the Iran Deal, that marked the end of sanctions and the empowerment of Iran, which supports Bashar al-Assad (the same leader the P4+1 is trying hard to remove from power). Increasing Iran's income is the same as ensuring al-Assad stays in power as long as Iran has interests in keeping him there.

The Pakistani and The North Korean Nuclear Programme

Over a decade ago, Israel learned that North Korea was working for Syria in order to develop the latter's nuclear programme. This tells us that not only North Korea is Iran's Test Lab but it also serves all of Iran's friends. This is how the Kim regimes survived sanctions. North Koreans work with the Pakistani (so that they keep their operations concealed from India), they work with Iran (so they keep their advanced nuclear programme away from the UN's eye), they worked with Syria (the relationship was unveiled when North Korean officials [linked to advanced weapon deliveries] were invited to al-Assad's inauguration, in 2001); and they work for with China (even though now they maintain a tense relationship over nuclear tests; but is that tension real or simply smoke and mirrors out of political expedience?).

If China indeed protects North Korea, this means that China is indirectly – if not directly – assisting all the mentioned Nuclear Programmes. China is an accessory. And since the Red Dragon is building up its military might in high speed, we are to assume that the “cooperation” is producing interesting fruits to the Chinese military industry as well. China is a UNSC permanent member.

It is also known that China has joined Russia in Syria – did the Red Dragon do so because it wants to support Al-Assad or because it wants to protect a nuclear project, in which it invested?

The Syrian War... 

Is this conflict truly about regime change or is it about protecting nuclear sites or chemical/nuclear weapons, or both? On one side we have the world's biggest powers fighting to keep these valuable, yet dangerous, arms from falling into the wrong hands; and on the other we have rebels and terrorist groups fighting to get their hands on such material...Israel does well to conduct pre-emptive strikes.

(Image [Ed.]: Iranian Missile Test - United With Israel)

[The views expressed in this publication are solely those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of Dissecting Society]