Originally Posted by Manga1

Entirely possible. I don't think it would be in Russia's interests to give Iran nukes, however. Those nukes could just as easily be a threat to Russia in the future. I believe all parties involved want to keep the Middle East conventional, with the exception of Israel.

There is also another problem with all this. If Russia allied itself with Iran and gave them nukes, that would give the US an excuse to put nukes back into Turkey, and possibly Iraq as well. This scenario is more of a threat to Russia than it is to the US since the nukes are on Russia's doorstep. The US used to have nukes in Turkey but removed them as part of a back room deal during the Cuban missile crisis. So I doubt Russia would do something like this.

Originally Posted by Manga1

Not only is it true that Iran is surrounded, with US troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, but invading Iran would also contribute to the long term strategy of containing Russia. An invasion of Iran would give the US access to the Caspian Sea. Not only is there oil in the Caspian Sea, but it also gives naval access to Russia. So, the US (NATO) would now have access to Russia from both the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea.