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Biden Pushes New Russia, Iran, Korea, China Effort Before Trump Term
US President Joe Biden delivers remarks on the economy at the Brookings Institution in Washington, DC, US, Dec. 10, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque
President Joe Biden is pushing US national security agencies ahead of Donald Trump‘s inauguration to devise new strategies to tackle the risky, deepening ties among Russia, Iran, North Korea, and China, according to US officials.
In exchange for Iran‘s help with the Russian war effort in Ukraine, Moscow is giving its ally fighter aircraft, missile defense, and space technology, Biden concluded in a national security memorandum issued on Tuesday.
Russian President Vladimir Putin is giving North Korea fuel, money, and technology, and is recognizing it as a de facto nuclear state. Russia is conducting joint patrols with China in the Arctic, the administration said.
The classified document was described in general terms to reporters, but has not independently been reviewed by Reuters. Russia, China, Iran, and North Korea have disputed similar assessments in the past and accused Washington of destabilizing behavior.
Biden‘s new document orders various arms of the US government to restructure groups currently organized by region to better focus on issues linking the four countries that span Europe and Asia.
The document’s strategies and policy suggestions could be implemented — or rejected altogether — by President-elect Trump, a Republican who takes office on Jan. 20.
“When the new team sort of looks at it, I don’t think they will see anything in it that is trying to box them in or tilt them toward one policy option or another,” said one of the senior administration officials, who declined to be named.
Another official said they want to create “new options so that a new team and Congress can really hit the ground running.”
The officials said the challenges ahead include ensuring that any sanctions and export controls imposed on the four countries are applied in a coordinated way that doesn’t risk blowback from those countries and enabling the United States to better handle simultaneous crises involving several of the countries. North Korean troops are now serving in Russia, for instance.
“We’re now in a world where our adversaries and our competitors are learning very quickly from one another,” said one of the officials.
But there are limits to the countries’ cooperation, another of the officials said, including Russia and Iran‘s failing to assist their ally Bashar al-Assad, the former Syrian president who was toppled over the weekend.
“This realignment sort of raises for China the question about what kind of future it wants to see and if it really wants to be all-in with this grouping,” the person said.
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Israeli Strike on Tehran Kills Bodyguard of Slain Hezbollah Chief
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi lays a wreath as he visits the burial site of former Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, on the outskirts of Beirut, Lebanon, June 3, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir
A member of Lebanese armed group Hezbollah was killed in an Israeli air strike on Tehran alongside a member of an Iran-aligned Iraqi armed group, a senior Lebanese security source told Reuters and the Iraqi group said on Saturday.
The source identified the Hezbollah member as Abu Ali Khalil, who had served as a bodyguard for Hezbollah’s slain chief Hassan Nasrallah. The source said Khalil had been on a religious pilgrimage to Iraq when he met up with a member of the Kataeb Sayyed Al-Shuhada group.
They traveled together to Tehran and were both killed in an Israeli strike there, along with Khalil’s son, the senior security source said. Hezbollah has not joined in Iran’s air strikes against Israel from Lebanon.
Kataeb Sayyed Al-Shuhada published a statement confirming that both the head of its security unit and Khalil had been killed in an Israeli strike.
Nasrallah was killed in an Israeli aerial attack on Beirut’s southern suburbs in September.
Israel and Iran have been trading strikes for nine consecutive days since Israel launched attacks on Iran, saying Tehran was on the verge of developing nuclear weapons. Iran has said it does not seek nuclear weapons.
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Hamas Financial Officer and Commander Eliminated by IDF in the Gaza Strip
Israeli soldiers operate during a ground operation in the southern Gaza Strip, amid the Israel-Hamas conflict, July 3, 2024. Photo: Ohad Zwigenberg/Pool via REUTERS
i24 News – The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), in cooperation with the General Security Service (Shin Bet), announced on Friday the killing of Ibrahim Abu Shamala, a senior financial official in Hamas’ military wing.
The operation took place on June 17th in the central Gaza Strip.
Abu Shamala held several key positions, including financial officer for Hamas’ military wing and assistant to Marwan Issa, the deputy commander of Hamas’ military wing until his elimination in March 2024.
He was responsible for managing all the financial resources of Hamas’ military wing in Gaza, overseeing the planning and execution of the group’s war budget. This involved handling and smuggling millions of dollars into the Gaza Strip to fund Hamas’ military operations.
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Report: Wary of Assassination by Israel, Khamenei Names 3 Potential Successors
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei waves during a meeting in Tehran, Iran, May 20, 2025. Photo: Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader/WANA (West Asia News Agency)/Handout via REUTERS
i24 News – Iran’s supreme leader Ali Khamenei named three senior clerics as candidates to succeed him should he be killed, the New York Times reported on Saturday citing unnamed Iranian officials. It is understood the Ayatollah fears he could be assassinated in the coming days.
Khamenei reportedly mostly speaks with his commanders through a trusted aide now, suspending electronic communications.
Khamenei has designated three senior religious figures as candidates to replace him as well as choosing successors in the military chain of command in the likely event that additional senior officials be eliminated.
Earlier on Saturday Israel confirmed the elimination of Saeed Izadi and Bhanam Shahriari.
Shahriari, head of Iran’s Quds Force Weapons Transfer Unit, responsible for arming Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis, was killed in an Israeli airstrike over 1,000 km from Israel in western Iran.
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