If America were just fighting terrorists, that would be difficult enough. Even if Iran were the only country supporting those terrorists, the battle would be daunting.

But America’s challenge is ever so much greater than that.

Truth is, America is up against a loosely aligned, worldwide web of enemies. Perhaps they are not all preaching fire and brimstone like Ahmadinejad or Chavez; many are only passively working against the United States. Still, to take a step forward on one front, the U.S. is forced to appease on any other number of fronts. There are many nations that, in fact, are more closely aligned with Iran than the U.S.—actively working to undermine U.S. efforts.

First, consider some of America’s allies in the Middle East.

Take Pakistan, arguably America’s best ally in the region, which has received an estimated $4 to $5 billion in U.S. military aid since 9/11. Pakistan has a defense pact with Iran; its intelligence agency has close ties with Iran’s intelligence services. Pakistan’s military and intelligence agency are largely sympathetic to the Taliban and al Qaeda. They supply the terrorist fighters in Afghanistan with money, weapons and military advice. President Pervez Musharraf stands by while terrorists seek refuge in his country, using it as a base from which to attack American troops in Afghanistan. Late last year, senior Pakistani officials, including the foreign minister, urged nato countries to accept defeat by the Taliban.

It appears even Afghanistan’s President Hamid Karzai is losing faith in the U.S. In an indication he feels the U.S. is fighting a losing battle in both Afghanistan and Iraq—a situation that would leave Iran as the predominant power in the region—Karzai called for peace talks with the Taliban in January. Such a scenario would certainly undermine the U.S.’s efforts to defeat the Taliban. Already, tribal leaders in Afghanistan have done deals with the Taliban.

Then there is Saudi Arabia, another key “ally” of the U.S. Sure, Riyadh doesn’t want the U.S. to leave Iraq right now leaving Iran to take over, but it has a dubious method of encouraging the U.S. to stay: by supporting the Sunni insurgency—financing the terrorists who are killing Americans. Although it is private citizens providing the millions of dollars for the terrorists to buy arms, observers believe that it is with the approval of the government. Furthermore, money channeled through Saudi “charities” has reportedly been the primary source of funding for al Qaeda. The Institute for the Analysis of Global Security reported, “The Saudi regime has been complicit in its people’s actions and has turned a blind eye to the phenomenon of wealthy citizens sending money to charities that in turn route it to terror organizations. Furthermore, Saudi government money funneled into madrassas where radical anti-Americanism is propagated has been instrumental in creating an ideological climate which generates terrorism.” It says quite a bit about America’s standing in the world community when these are the type of countries it considers allies.

Then there is Russia, which takes great pleasure in thwarting American efforts wherever it can. With the U.S. tied down fighting terrorism in Iraq, Russia has seen great opportunity to further frustrate U.S. efforts so Moscow is free to pursue its own goals. Direct support for Iran has been a major part of that strategy. Russia and Iran have several aligning goals, the most crucial being containment, and even ruin, of the United States. Near-dictator President Vladimir Putin made clear his stance against the U.S. in his speech at Munich last week, when he stated, “One state and, of course, first and foremost the United States, has overstepped its national borders in every way.” He pinned the blame on America for the problems in the Middle East. Stratfor stated, “Putin now clearly wants to escalate the confrontations with the United States and likely wants to build a coalition to limit American power” (February 13).

Russia’s support for Iran can be seen, of course, in its building a nuclear plant in Iran, ensuring any UN Security Council resolutions against Iran are watered down as much as possible, providing Iran with weaponry, and giving Iran all sorts of moral support. Moscow also embraces Iran’s terrorist allies such as Hamas.

Be that as it may, Stratfor reports that the U.S. may actually be using Russia as a mediator between itself and Iran. “The Russians have offered to help the United States get out of Iraq if Washington cuts back in its support of anti-Moscow elements in Ukraine. … Aware that the Iraq issue cannot be solved without Iranian help, and knowing that directly dealing with Tehran is not something that will sit well domestically for the Bush administration, Washington has likely taken Russia up on the offer” (February 9).

Just how impartial would Russia be as a mediator? Consider: Russia has just sold an anti-aircraft missile system to Iran, and is currently negotiating the sale of S300 missiles—which would certainly hinder any potential airstrikes the U.S. might want to conduct against Iran. What does it say about America’s options that it would even consider the possibility of seeking help from such a country?

Then there is Europe. Like Russia, Europe rejoices in America’s setbacks as it pushes for an end to the American-dominated unipolar world. It has provided minimal military assistance to U.S. efforts in the war on terror and has dragged its feet in supporting any actions against Iran.

There is evidence, even, that Europe is knowingly providing Iran with assistance that is detrimental to the U.S. Just last week, for example, U.S. and Iraqi forces in Baghdad seized more than 100 sniper rifles that were legally exported to Iran from Austria—against the U.S.’s wishes—last year. It took just six weeks for the first of these European-sourced Iranian rifles to reach Iraqi insurgents and kill an American soldier. It is unknown how many of the $15.5 million shipment of 800 rifles are still in the hands of Iraqi snipers.

Europe has also refused to support the U.S. in isolating Iran financially and economically. Though the EU last week agreed to implement the watered-down resolution the Security Council passed two months ago—which is meant to prevent Iran from receiving nuclear-related technology and material—any real meaningful sanctions that would actually hurt Iran will unlikely be passed. Why? Because Europe is a major trading partner of Iran’s. The EU supplies Iran with 37 percent of its imports; Germany, France and Italy are Iran’s largest trading partners. Many European nations have invested in Iran’s oil and gas industries. Washington’s request for Europe to cut trade ties with Iran has gone unheeded. In confirming that it would implement the Security Council sanctions, the EU actually pointed to the fact that an economic incentives package remained on offer to Iran if it stopped enriching uranium.

The U.S. has European assistance in Afghanistan, but even then, each country has self-imposed conditions limiting how much assistance it can give. Germany, for example, has been involved in an ongoing dispute over its refusal to send troops to the area that needs them the most—where active combat is occurring.

Then, if we’re to look at Asia, we see a brick wall in America’s face. Japan is Iran’s largest oil buyer; China it’s second-largest. China is also heavily involved in exploring for gas reserves inside Iran. Clearly China has a lot at stake over Iran, and thus will use (and has used) its veto power in the Security Council to block anything that will get Iran offside. On top of that, with the U.S. heavily indebted to China to finance its mammoth deficit, America is left with little leverage for coercing China to cooperate.

As for America’s efforts to isolate Iran diplomatically, many countries are working to undermine those efforts. Iran has conducted talks with nations throughout the Middle East, including U.S. ally Saudi Arabia, about regional issues—not to mention ongoing dialogue with Iraqi authorities. Europe continues to engage it diplomatically; Russia is great buddies with it, not to mention China and others. Just last week, at the Munich Conference on Security Policy, Iran’s top nuclear negotiator, Ali Larijani, was given the opportunity to make an anti-American speech before leading politicians from 40 countries.

Then, we must not forget the fifth column within America. Even as the president tells the world that America will not tolerate terrorism, U.S. politicians and media are busy signaling to the enemy that the U.S. doesn’t really have the power—or desire—to prevail. Don’t think that Iran does not notice this—and relishes the fact that the society it hates is actually helping it.

What’s more, Tehran is well aware of the inter-dependence other nations share with Iran, and gains confidence from that. With regard its non-compliance on nuclear issues, John Metzler writes, “[T]he grim reality remains that Islamic Iran has factored in its global commercial links, the Iraq war, Beijing’s likely diplomatic support, and assumed it can probably get away with it” (World Tribune.com, February 13).

This all means that Iran is actually in a far stronger position than its own size and power warrant. Consider the months of debating, cajoling, threatening, blackmailing that went into agreeing the Security Council resolution aimed at hindering Iran’s nuclear program. In the end, Russia succeeded in taking the teeth out of the resolution.

Does America dare push Iran too hard? We haven’t even mentioned Iran’s threats to strike at oil shipments in the Strait of Hormuz, which could effectively throw the world oil trade into crisis. Or the Hezbollah operatives that Iran has placed around the world. Or the fact that nations hostile to America control most of the world’s oil supply.

Iran may seem like no match for American might. But it is clearly not on its own. In a world where every nation is more or less out for itself, a considerable segment of the world community considers lining up with Iran against the U.S. as being in its best interests—perhaps not overtly supporting Tehran, but still, working against American interests.

The common thread is hatred of America. A worldwide movement is underway to limit U.S. power. This is what is causing nations around the world to side with America’s enemies, whoever they may be—even the rogue state of Iran. And this is a trend we can expect to see continue—and gather steam.

From this perspective, we can see just how weak America is becoming. In the eyes of most of the world, America is fast becoming the pariah state—not Iran.