Trump weighs strike as Iran allies hold back

WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump is weighing military options against Iran as diplomacy enters what officials describe as a last-ditch phase, even as Tehran’s closest partners — China and Russia — appear reluctant to offer direct military backing in any conflict with the United States.

According to a report in The Wall Street Journal, Iran has sought for years to build closer military ties with Beijing and Moscow. But its powerful friends are “proving reluctant to step forward” as the regime faces what the paper described as the “most acute US threat to its survival in decades.”

Russia and Iran conducted small-scale naval drills in the Gulf of Oman this past week. An exercise involving Chinese ships is also planned in the Strait of Hormuz, Iranian state media reported. Yet analysts told the Journal that Beijing and Moscow have shown little willingness to provide direct military assistance if Trump orders an attack on Iran.