How could he possibly have been surprised by the response? They are with 9 judges. Three vehemently disagreed with the ruling and even Barret partially disagreed. It’s not like he was looking for some compromise ruling that all judges signed onto. Pathetic reporting.
Remember that Iran is currently providing drones to Russia, so it’s not as if they are fully separate threats. I would say both are at the moment big concerns, so I can see where the answer is coming from. At the same time, the primary reason for our current struggles with Iran is that Trump sabotaged the Iran nuclear deal. On the other hand, the struggles with Russia are primarily related to Putin.