Chapter 414: Stopping Iran From Acquiring Weapons

"The Americans have withdrawn their troops from Iran." The winter in Moscow is cold. At the end of 1979, this news reached Moscow. It was not known whether such news was good or bad for the Soviet Union.

"The Americans are very wise," Gromyko said. "Now, the situation in Iran is gradually falling into a quagmire. The Americans are keenly aware of this problem and simply use compromise to solve it. The Iranian government also backed down and returned their remaining hostages to the United States."

"But the Americans still lost. They tried to start a war to control Iran's oil resources," Ustinov said. "And now? They lost tens of thousands of troops and obediently withdrew from Iran, only to get a few dozen hostages."

No matter how the United States tries to cover it up, this is not the victory they claim.

As long as the Soviet Union saw the United States suffer losses, it was happy. Ustinov's face was full of smiles, as if he had defeated the United States again.

"Ladies and gentlemen, now that the United States has withdrawn its troops, can we implement our established strategy?" Andropov asked, "Can our troops enter Iran now and implement our southward strategy?"

The Americans left, leaving the Soviet Union with an opportunity! Even Andropov was eager to try, and he certainly knew the great strategic value of doing so.

"Comrade General Secretary, our timing is not right yet." Andre said, "Now, although the Americans have left and the Iranians have suffered great losses, there are still many stubborn and crazy Iranians. What we should do now is to continue to be patient and watch the Iranians and Iraq fight each other. The reason why the Iranians negotiated peace with the United States is also because of the threat from Iraq. Now that the Americans are gone, the Iranians will do their best to deal with Iraq. By the time the Iranians drive Iraq back to the border, the Iranian military strength will have been almost eliminated. At that time, won’t it be easier for us to send troops?"

There is a time to pick fruits. Now, the Americans are badly beaten and bloodied, and as soon as the Americans leave, our side takes over. This is inappropriate no matter how you look at it.

The planned tactics is to let Iraq consume the strength of the Iranians. Now, we should continue to act according to our planned tactics!

"Yes, we can't rush into this kind of thing. We have to wait for the most appropriate opportunity," said Andropov.

"Of course, we should change our attitude towards Iran now. The weapons and equipment ordered by the Iranians should no longer flow into Iran," Gromyko said.

In the past, in order to help Iran fight against the United States and let both sides consume their strength, the Soviet Union provided Iran with a batch of weapons. Now, since the United States has left, this project must of course be terminated!

"Those tanks, self-propelled artillery and other projects can no longer be given to the Iranians. We have to keep the modified fighters for the Iranians." Andre said: "However, we still have to be skillful in rejecting the Iranians. We can have some excuses, for example, we did not anticipate the previous difficulties. The modification will continue to cost a lot of money. Give us another billion US dollars to modify those Tomcat fighters. What? You don't want to pay, and you plan to fly the fighters back? The fighters have been dismantled into parts by us, and they can't fly!"

Andre's tone was so lifelike that everyone present couldn't help but laugh.

The naive Iranians actually did such a business with us! After the first batch of ten were modified for the Iranians and flew back, the Iranians flew the remaining thirty Tomcat fighters that could fly over and asked the Soviet Union to modify them. Now, these Tomcat fighters are just the right ones to cheat the Iranians. If the Iranians admit it and give another billion dollars, it won’t be long before they ask for another sum from the Iranians!

This kind of hooliganism makes others very satisfied. Who can be blamed for this? It’s the Iranians who are too naive. They shout that they are Satan every day. Can Satan still help you?

"After we build up our power in Iran, we can return these fighters to the new Iranian government." Andre said, "In short, now we have to trick HMN. However, we also need to take action in another aspect, to completely block the Iranians' weapons import channels."

Although Iran has a complete industrial system, those industries have long been destroyed in the confrontation with the United States. It is quite difficult for Iranians to resume industrial production. At this stage, Iranians can only import. Western Europe will not sell weapons to Iran, and neither will the United States. The Soviet Union is now using a shady trick, so only China is left!

"Andrei, do you mean China?" Andropov asked.

"Yes, General Secretary." Andre said, "Iran's only source of weapons can only be China. As long as we block Iran's channel for importing weapons from China, Iran will have no choice but to use human lives to fill one hole after another."

Although China's weapons are inferior, they are still weapons after all, and they are cheap. Charging forward in a Type 69 tank is better than charging forward with an automatic rifle, right?

Block Iran’s access to weapons imports from China!

"Andrei, you have thought well. So, how do we negotiate with China?" Andropov asked.

After all, China is not a younger brother of the Soviet Union. Although they have come together again, they are still independent. If the Soviet Union uses coercive means to oppress China, it will only arouse China's resentment.

"We can continue to develop trade with China." Andre said: "China is now reforming and opening up, and wants to attract foreign investment. We can let the island countries' companies invest in China, cooperate to build factories, and develop China's market. This is beneficial to both sides. Moreover, we can continue to use arms sales to attract China. China still needs more weapons and equipment from us."

The island countries now completely listen to the Soviets. It is beneficial to both sides to persuade the island countries' capitalists to cooperate with China to set up factories. Then, they can use weapons to tie down China and make China stop exporting weapons to Iran. This should be possible. You must know that on the Vietnam issue, the Soviet Union fully supported China, and China has always reciprocated its kindness.

"It seems that we need to send someone to visit China again." Andropov said.

Visit China! Seeing everyone's eyes looking at him, Andre had an innocent expression on his face: "Am I the best candidate?"