Press review: Iran rains down missiles on Israel and Rutte takes helm as captain of NATO

MOSCOW, October 2. /TASS/. Iran strikes back at Israel; Jens Stoltenberg officially passes the torch to new NATO secretary general Mark Rutte; and Canberra is deeply involved in the Ukraine conflict. These stories topped Wednesday’s newspaper headlines in Russia.
 
On Tuesday night, Iran launched a massive attack against Israel as it fired hundreds of ballistic missiles toward the Jewish state. The attack came less than a day after the Israeli army launched what it called a limited ground operation against the Iran-backed Hezbollah group in southern Lebanon and four days after Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah was killed in an Israeli airstrike on Beirut.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said in a statement on Tuesday evening that the latest missile attack was retaliation for the death of Nasrallah alongside the assassination of Abbas Nilforoushan, the IRGC deputy commander for operations, on September 27, and Hamas Politburo Chief Ismail Hanieyh, who was killed on July 31. The IRGC threatened a “devastating response” to any Israeli retaliation.
IDF Spokesperson Daniel Haggari has already threatened Tehran with “consequences” as he said the Israeli military has certain “plans.” US President Joe Biden has directed the US military to assist Israel’s defense against Iranian attacks and shoot down missiles targeting Israel, the White House’s National Security Council Spokesperson, Sean Savett, wrote on X at around 8:00 p.m. Moscow time (5:00 p.m. GMT).
No major damage or casualties was reported in Israel following the Iranian attack.
Israel is highly likely to strike back at Iran, believes Ruslan Pukhov, a member of the Public Council at the Russian Defense Ministry. Don’t expect the United States to take a direct part in any potential attack though, he added, as the outgoing administration would not like the escalation in the Middle East to spiral out of control.
General Director of the Modern Iran Study Center Rajab Safarov views the Iranian missile attack as a forced measure aimed at putting an end to the Israeli ground offensive in Lebanon. “The killing of Nasrallah was the last straw for Tehran, and now the world is facing the threat of a wider regional war,” the expert told Vedomosti. Iran could potentially deploy ground forces to Syria and Lebanon to protect its allies there, but whether it will do so depends on how the situation in the region evolves and how Israel reacts, he concluded.
 
Norway’s Jens Stoltenberg officially handed over the reins as NATO secretary general to former Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte at a ceremony at the bloc’s headquarters in Brussels on Tuesday. The transition came amid reports that the US may fast track Ukraine’s membership in the North Atlantic Alliance. In his first speech as NATO chief, Rutte vowed to make the Ukraine conflict his top priority. Just as important for Rutte will be how he is able to work with the White House, especially if Donald Trump is elected US president. Many have pointed out that Rutte is one of the few European politicians who seemed to get along well with the former US leader.
Among other things, the new secretary general will have to persuade allies to spend 3% of GDP on defense, an increase flouted by his predecessor. Rutte pledged to deliver on Stoltenberg’s promise as he touted the issue as his number two priority. When asked to comment on whether Ukraine should be allowed to strike targets inside Russia, Rutte, like Stoltenberg did earlier, said at his inaugural press conference that this was a decision for individual countries to make, adding that “we do not see any imminent threat of nuclear weapons being used.”
Rutte also assured that the alliance’s stance on Ukraine will not change after the US presidential election. While Trump has pushed for negotiations to resolve the Ukraine conflict, US Vice President Kamala Harris would prefer Kiev to prevail. Rutte said he can work with either candidate.
Meanwhile, The Financial Times reported that US President Joe Biden may move to advance the status of Kiev’s NATO membership bid before leaving his post in January. In other words, Biden may seek to put an end to the Ukraine conflict by persuading Ukraine to make some concessions in exchange for its Euro-Atlantic integration, something the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry dismissed as untrue. “There can be no compromise on Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity,” Ukrainian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Georgy Tikhiy said.
News and politics channels on Telegram were abuzz about yesterday’s passing of the torch to the new NATO secretary general, too. “The Kremlin expects no reversal in NATO’s policies under new Secretary General Mark Rutte, and with good reason. Rutte has already promised that support to Ukraine will remain a priority for the North Atlantic Alliance,” the Temnik channel wrote. According to it, Rutte had good rapport with Trump in the past, so if the Republican becomes the next US president, the NATO chief will stand a better chance of smoothing things over with the US leader.
 
Since the Ukraine conflict broke out, Canberra has sent weapons and military hardware to the tune of over $750 mln to Kiev, Russian Ambassador to Australia Alexey Pavolvsky told Izvestia. And between 200 to 600 Australians may have taken part in hostilties in Ukraine. It has already been confirmed that as many as 48 Australians, many with previous military experience, fought on the Ukrainian side. As Australia is a NATO partner, it has repeatedly provided major military support as part of the alliance’s initiatives.
By sending aid to Kiev, Australia supports not only NATO’s policy, but also specifically the United States. Washington and Canberra are members of the AUKUS defense alliance with Britain and the QUAD security dialogue, involving India and Japan. Both are focused on containing China in the Asia-Pacific.
Australia gets certain perks from its partnership with the US, including nuclear submarines, Jeremy Kuzmarov, managing editor of CovertAction Magazine, told Izvestia. The United States runs secret military and intelligence projects in Australia, essentially turning the largest Oceanian country into its satellite, the expert said. However, the Australian public is is not so happy with this alliance, namely because the United States pushes Australia to confront its largest trade partner, China, he continued. As regards Ukraine, the Australian people are outraged about how much taxpayer money is lost there, with the bulk of the funds channeled to Kiev being stolen on the black market and never reaching the recipient, he argues.
Australia’s foreign policy is closely intertwined with the Anglo-Saxon’s anti-Russian tilt, primarily the US and the UK, which aim to cause Russia as much damage as possible in Ukraine, Dmitry Mosyakov, head of the Center for the Study of Southeast Asia, Australia and Oceania at the Russian Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Oriental Studies, explains. “This is a policy course being pursued by not only Australia’s ruling party, but also the entire Australian political elite,” the expert added.
 
On October 2, OPEC+ will hold an online joint ministerial monitoring committee (JMMC) meeting to discuss the situation on the oil market. While Brent prices have been extremely turbulent amid the latest escalation in the Middle East, reports in the Western media that Saudi Arabia may be getting ready to do a little price dumping have neither been confirmed nor refuted.
Tamara Safonova, associate professor at the Institute of Economics, Mathematics and IT under the Russian Presidential Academy, says media reports alleging that the Saudis can take back their market share contradict the alliance’s original strategy of regulating the balance of oil supply and demand globally. Besides, Saudi Arabia is running economic reforms to diversify its economy and reduce its reliance on oil revenues, the expert added, therefore the hypothetical increase in production runs counter to the concept of the oil alliance.
Commenting on a report in the Financial Times that Saudi Arabia might abandon the $100 crude target, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said that the OPEC+ agreement is valid through 2025 and that Russia will act based on the existing agreements. Novak also said the deal agreed by OPEC+ has proved its effectiveness, staving off a global energy crisis.
Experts mostly agree that the deal has been effective. “Russia remains a key market player at OPEC+ as it plays an important role as the organizer bringing parties to the agreement together,” Yevgeny Mironyuk, an expert at BCS World of Investments, told Nezavisimaya Gazeta. “The alliance is there to see that no one has an outsize influence on the oil market,” Cifra Broker analyst Kirill Klementyev agrees.
 
On Tuesday, Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin took part in a meeting of the third Eurasian Economic Forum in Yerevan. Yesterday’s plenary session discussed efforts toward the digitalization of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) in modern realities. Russia calls on its EAEU allies to boost the union’s digital sovereignty, including by embracing Russia-developed practices, Mishustin said.
In recent years, the EAEU has made progress in the field of digitalization and the strengthening of digital sovereignty, especially in the transport and logistics sector, Deputy Director of HSE Center for Comprehensive European and International Studies Alexander Korolev told Izvestia. “Russia plays a key role in all these spheres, especially as it promotes the digital ruble, which will also help strengthen the financial and digital sovereignty of the EAEU,” he noted.
The EAEU has been developing steadily, despite the sanctions imposed by the West on its largest economy, Russia, and the global economic slowdown. In the first half of 2024, the union’s GDP increased by 4.5%. And the EAEU is ready to expand cooperation. “Fruitful interaction between the Five [members of the EAEU] and China continues. Free trade agreements are being implemented with Iran, Vietnam, and Serbia. This year, negotiations on an interim trade agreement have been held with Mongolia. And work is currently being made toward agreements with the United Arab Emirates and Indonesia,” the Russian premier noted.
IMEMO RAS senior researcher Dmitry Ofitserov-Belsky noted that countries that are attracted by the size of the Russian market are seeking cooperation with the EAEU. “This creates a good opportunity for exports. As regards EAEU member countries, they in particular have access to the Russian labor market,” he told Izvestia.
TASS is not responsible for the material quoted in these press reviews