As the old adage goes, a friend in need is a friend indeed. As geopolitical tensions flare across the Middle East, a recurring question echoes through the international theater: Why haven’t China and Russia come to Iran’s rescue? Tehran increasingly finds itself targeted by Western sanctions and military pressure, yet its powerful northern and eastern partners remain largely on the sidelines.Despite frequent Western hand-wringing over a burgeoning “new axis” of autocracies, the reality is that neither Moscow nor Beijing has the power — or the willingness — to confront the United States and the West militarily and directly on Iran’s behalf.To understand this reluctance, one must first look at the stark contrast between Western alliances and this so-called axis. On the Western side, there is little doubt that allies will fight to support one another if invaded, codified in bedrock agreements like NATO’s Article 5. Historical precedents for authoritarian alignment, by contrast, are weak. Even during World War II, while Germany and Italy fought closely together, Axis partner Japan fell short of full synchronization, primarily due to its geopolitical ego. Today’s authoritarian alignment is even more transactional.