This is something I've been thinking about, and I'm curious what people here think.
Considering the genocidal Mullah regime, the Putin government, and Xi all see the conflict with Iran and USA as a threat to their strategic interests. What if a new worldwide disaster broke out and forced the US to shift huge amounts of money, military resources, and political attention back to dealing with a crisis at home? This would allow the genocidal Mullahs to dodge a bullet and survive the Trump administration because otherwise they are no way in hell going to survive the 2nd half of the Trump term.
I'm not saying I have evidence that anyone is planning something like this. It's a hypothetical scenario. But COVID showed just how much a global pandemic can disrupt economies, strain governments, divide societies, and completely change a country's priorities almost overnight.
For the genocidal Mullah regime, who are facing a existential threat like a rabid cornered rat like their leader Khamanei (RIP - rest in piss), a major distraction like that could potentially buy them time and take pressure off them.
Russia and China would also benefit strategically from the pull out as well since Xi will be able to continue buying dirt cheap oil from Iran and Putin will still have an ally in West Asia.
The question is whether anyone thinks this is a remotely plausible strategic calculation, or whether I'm giving these sick governments too much credit for coordinating something on that scale..
NOTE: I wouldn't put ANYTHING past these genocidal Mullah cowards to inflict as much damage as possible to everyone so that they can continue to exploit Iran's resources for their own Islamist ideology.