I'm not sure I follow the logic here. If Iran decided it wanted a ready-made nuclear weapon from another country, why would Russia risk being the middleman and secretly transport North Korean nuclear weapons? At that point, if Russia were willing to take that level of risk, why wouldn't Russia simply provide assistance directly? More importantly, the transfer of an actual nuclear weapon is a completely different category from technology transfers or conventional arms sales. You're talking about an act that could trigger massive international consequences for every country involved. It also assumes North Korea would be willing to hand over one of its most valuable strategic assets and Russia would be willing to facilitate it and somehow all of this would occur without intelligence agencies around the world noticing. Could Iran become more determined to pursue a nuclear deterrent after the conflict? Sure, that's a reasonable argument. But jumping from that to a scenario involving North Korean nukes, Russian transport aircraft and covert transfers seems like several additional leaps that need to be explained. Sometimes the simplest explanation is the most likely one. If Iran wants a nuclear capability, history suggests it would continue pursuing its own program rather than relying on a complicated multinational conspiracy that would require multiple governments to take enormous risks on its behalf.
