Trita Parsi

But you can also see a scenario in which the US doesn't go back in and then the Iranians have managed to achieve something else, which is they have truly separated the US from Israel.

That would be a huge strategic win for the Iranians, which may be part of the reason why the Israelis actually won't go into the war again with the Iranians, knowing very well that that might be an outcome from that move.

So first of all, as you said, we have to take all of these different intelligence reports leaking to media without much scrutiny, with a pinch of salt.

But I think also we have to take the definition of China helping Iran somewhat carefully.

For the Chinese to continue to sell stuff to Iran, including chemical things, is not from the Chinese perspective in any way, shape or form, them actually helping Iran in the war.

Similar to the fact that the United States keeps on selling a lot of things, even short of weapons, to Israel.

Even its selling of the weapons, it doesn't necessarily view as a provocative move.

Imagine, you know, accusations that just because the United States were to sell other type of things to Israel during a war, that that would be active support for the war from the U.S.

side.

So I think the definitional issue is quite important to understand here.

Having said that, I do believe that the Chinese have provided the Iranians with intelligence.

and other measures without getting directly involved in this is still way below any threshold that would really justify the US doing anything in particular.

The Chinese have an interest in getting this resolved ASAP.

There is this view in Washington that as soon as the US shoots itself in the foot, that benefits China.

There is truth to that, undoubtedly.

But it is a simplistic black and white view of the Chinese.

The Chinese, more than anything else, want to make sure that there is stability in the Persian Gulf.

They are much more affected

by high oil prices and by the flow of oil from the Persian Gulf than the US is.

And if this continues to become a real debacle on the energy markets, the Chinese are going to suffer tremendously from that.