The UN could well be Iran’s knight in tarnished armour. After all, Secretary General Antonio Guterres has urged the US to lift or waive all sanctions on Tehran, as per the terms and conditions of the multilateral nuclear pact. Of course, he didn’t say this directly to the Biden White House but, rather, in a report to the UN Security Council. Oh well, baby steps for the toothless. That Guterres is striving for an extension of waivers to include trade in oil and nuclear non-proliferation projects sends an important message to the Iranian people. One that recognises the economic fallout they have endured since the US quit the nuclear accord back in 2018. Yet only the optimistic view this as a warning to Washington that the unilateralism of the Trump years will not be tolerated, let alone welcomed. For the way everyone and their cat sees it, the Biden administration — like those that came before — is interested in status quo politics. At least in foreign policy terms. Including the reckless and unconditional exit from Afghanistan. For the target of US ire continues to be Iran. Tensions between the two sides escalated this week along the Syria-Iraq border. Biden accuses so-called Iranian-backed militants of targeting American personnel and facilities in Iraq and retaliated in kind. He also reminded everyone, cats and all, that Iran would never get a nuclear weapon — not on his watch. That this tough-talking came as Biden was hosting outing Israeli President Reuven Rivlin is not coincidental. All that being said, the UN remains effectively powerless in the face of US aggression. From Afghanistan to Iraq to Syria to Libya. Indeed, when Biden boasted to Rivlin that he had the authority to act in unilateral self-defence against Iranian-sponsored aggression — he did not cite a UNSC resolution authorising the use of force. No, he quoted the American constitution. Though some of his own Democrat comrades thought this was pushing it somewhat. For some pundits sitting closer to home, the rush to exit Afghanistan now makes more sense. The US will likely up the ante on Iran. For the Americans have discovered that they may well need more manpower and resources to bulldoze the road to Tehran that passes through Damascus. And while the US must realise that any military option would be unwise — it, nevertheless, explains the eagerness to maintain military bases in this neck of the woods. Because keeping an eye on Afghanistan means tracking ISIS fighters who are moving into that country from Syria. And with Iran covertly recruiting Afghan Shias to go to Syria to fight ISIS over there, we have come full circle. The bottom line is this: far from hitting-and-running from the Afghan quagmire of its own making — the US is potentially eying it as the next opening in a new proxy war with Iran. The Great Game has begun. Sadly. *