Namaz in the Kremlin

The first visit of newly elected Iranian President Ibrahim Raisi to Russia and his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin were so unusual that they caused a storm of public discussion in Iran.

Perhaps because not a single president of the Islamic Republic of Iran has previously spoken from the rostrum of the State Duma of the Russian Federation, has not visited the (Sunni) Cathedral Mosque, and even more so has not read a sermon (khutba) there like a Shiite priest.

And - the most beautiful thing - he did not pray in the Kremlin.

It would seem that the incredible Moscow honors should have been a balm to the Iranian heart, exhausted by the sanctions.

But with Iran, as always, everything was not easy.

Why didn't Putin meet Raisi at the airport in person?

Did the shape of the table matter?

Why were there no national flags on the negotiating table?

What did the body language of the presidents say during the meeting?

What did the prayer in the Kremlin mean?

Iranian media, politicians, even Shiite priests from Qom are still excitedly discussing Raisi's visit to Moscow.

Let's go through the topics of the most significant of these discussions.

1. 

To appease critics, government news agency ISNA called on former Vice President of Ceremonies Bahman Hosseipour to help:

“In the Russian capital, airports are located far from the presidential palace, and it has long been customary that when the presidents of different countries arrive, someone from the cabinet of ministers goes to meet the guest.

In the previous government (meaning the government of Rouhani. -

), the procedure was for the minister of the Joint Commission to go to meet the presidents who arrived at the airport.

We announced this to all guest countries at the meetings according to the protocol of the departure ceremonies of officials, and this is a tradition of the Islamic Republic.”

Iranian media recall that Putin traveled to Tehran in November 2015 to participate in the summit of states participating in the Forum of Gas Exporting Countries and in November 2017 to participate in a trilateral meeting of the presidents of Iran, Azerbaijan and Russia, and during these visits he was also met in airport, the then Ministers of Communications and Information Technology, the Minister of Economy and the Minister of Energy.

“During the day, taking into account traffic jams, the road to Imam Khomeini International Airport takes about an hour and a half, and the same time will be required to return.

This is a lot for the President of the country.

At the same time, an understanding is being formed that if the president of the country is not met at the airport by the first persons, then the first persons of this country can also refuse to visit the airport as part of equal actions,” explains Ali Mohammad Bidarmagaz, one of the most experienced diplomats of the Iranian Foreign Ministry, Deputy Foreign Minister for General ceremonies, former head of ceremonial of the Permanent Representative of the Islamic Republic of Iran to the UN.

In this situation, such a wounded Persian pride is generally incomprehensible as to why the Russian president did not rush to the airport to meet Mr. Raisi personally.

After all, even the Iranian multi-year protocol does not imply the arrival of their first person at the airport to meet foreign leaders.

2. 

“There is no objection to the fact that the presidents of the two countries sit far apart.

This distance can be related to healthcare protocols, for example to prevent coronary heart disease,” says Hosseipour.

I am afraid to clarify: is it to be understood in the interpretation of the respected expert that the presidents sit so far apart that they do not get heartbroken from contemplating each other's beauty?

Further - recognizable Persian "reciprocity" and a long memory:

"In order to respect the principle of reciprocity, it is also possible that such a seating arrangement for presidents will take place during Mr. Putin's next visit to Tehran."

3. 

Our table, to be honest, confused many.

Although I think he's great.

“The table set for Mr. Raisi is a table for negotiations and business meetings.

Yes, some compare this meeting to meeting with the Prime Minister of Israel or meeting with other heads of state.

Meanwhile, the meeting and negotiations between the presidents of Iran and Russia lasted more than three hours, ”Bidarmagaz, chief of the Iranian Foreign Ministry, continues to reassure the suspicious Iranian public in an interview with ISNA.

The New York Times offered its own version of the use of a table "the size of a football field" - the distance due to the coronavirus.

• Talks with Iranian President Ibrahim Raisi

• kremlin.ru

The Iranian newspaper Khorasan writes that “our president did not agree to quarantine according to Russian protocols, and he did not have time to conduct a PCR test, for this reason both leaders sat at different ends of the table in order to comply with coronavirus restrictions, since the Kremlin is following a serious health protocol for President Putin.”

The Kuma Shiite Guard (not from the Russian word “godfather”, but from the cradle of the Islamic Revolution, the city of Qom), traditionally more “Western-oriented”, with pleasure began to torment the heart of a native of Mashhad Raisi, showing him that even in the coronavirus two-year period, President Putin did not all foreign leaders sat at a distance of "Moscow - St. Petersburg."

فیلم |

میزبانی ولادیمیر پوتین نحوه از سران کشورهای مختلف در دوران پاندمی کرونا

آیا این همه تفاوت رفتار پوتین با ابراهیم رئیسی, رئیس دولت کشور قیاس با در ما سران دیگر کشورها واقعا امری عادی و طبیعی است ?!

pic.twitter.com/qvUyr0u9gq

— rahmatollah bigdeli (@bigdeli1343) January 23, 2022

But the video that showed the beginning of the meeting suggests that it is quite warm and informal.

“Salaam alaikum,” says Iranian interpreter Hossein Jahangiri, entering the meeting room.

“Aleikum as-salam,” the Russian president replies, laughing.

It is impossible to live normally with this covid!

The table nods grimly.

4. 

The complex Iranian political system, which is dominated by a supreme leader (rahbar), who does not visit foreign countries (in recent years, that's right), as well as the competition of various power groups within the system, where everyone does not trust each other, is extremely sensitive to any conversations eye to eye between Iranian officials of the first persons of the state with foreign first persons.

Therefore, the fact that the meeting between the presidents of Iran and Russia took place only in the presence of interpreters, without the control of persons accompanying the president, caused a predictable reaction from his critics.

• President of the Islamic Republic of Iran Ibrahim Raisi speaks at a plenary meeting of the State Duma of the Russian Federation

• RIA News

• © Maxim Blinov

Let's take a look at how they are trying to smooth this situation in the Iranian media.

Here is a quote from an interview in Hamshahri Online:

“Apparently, there is no one at the meeting except the presidents and interpreters,” said Ali Mohammad Bidarmagaz, the “chief of ceremonies” of the Iranian Foreign Ministry.

- I have an assumption that other people, including ministers and the entourage of both presidents, were also at the negotiating table.

In some business meetings, there is a rule that the leaders talk to each other in the presence of interpreters.

In this case, high-level secret strategic questions may arise.

My guess is that, of course, the ministers were present at the meeting and probably left the table briefly, so the gap between Mr. Putin and Mr. Raisi seems wide.

- But there are no extra chairs in the photographs of the meeting.

“I believe that the chairs could have been removed when they left the table so as not to spoil the appearance during the photo shoot.”

What am I bringing this piece to?

In order to show the difference between Western and Eastern approaches to ceremonial and the importance of those details that, without knowing the nuances of perception, we may simply not think about.

In this regard, the Chinese and Persian scrupulousness of diplomatic ceremonies, in my opinion, have similarities.

5. 

“This is unusual and unthinkable for me, because the flag is the face of the country and the nation,” continues Ali Mohammad Bidarmagaz.

- The flag is a sign of official meetings.

Perhaps the main meeting was held in another hall, where other officials and ministers were present, and the flags of the two countries were installed there.

Based on this, I can assume that the presidents left the hall where the negotiations were taking place in order to conduct especially important negotiations in private in a different setting.”

6. Pray in the middle of a meeting

“Mr. Raisi is a religious figure, so it is natural to assume that he left the meeting for prayer.

We have a saying about this: "When it's time to pray, tell your work that you have a prayer, but don't tell your prayer that you have a job."

The Iranian newspaper Khorasan quotes the Russian edition of Kommersant: "Raisi interrupted the negotiations and said it was time."

“I think there should have been an agreement with the other side about a prayer break.

And, most likely, Mr. Raisi offered up a prayer in the same room where the meeting took place.

I think it is good.

This shows that you can also pray in the Kremlin.”

“A prayer rug was spread out in the hall of Catherine II, and in the place where the throne of the Russian Empress once stood, the President of Iran performed the Maghreb prayer,” writes Bassam Mokdad, a columnist for the Lebanese newspaper Al Modon.

Iranian media remind that Raisi was not the first Iranian statesman who chose the Kremlin for prayer.

Allegedly, the pioneer who made sure that prayers can be performed in the Kremlin was General Qasem Soleimani.

This is also confirmed in an interview with Al Modon by one of the best Russian experts on Iran, senior researcher at the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, author of the brilliant book "Political Parties of Iran" Lana Ravandi-Fadai.

She refers to the fact that this incident took place when President Putin informally invited Soleimani to the Kremlin with a request to help find and rescue a Russian pilot whose Su-24 plane was shot down by Turkey in Syria in 2015.

And in 2022, Soleimani decided to repeat the prayer service to Raisi, in the interpretation of Ravandi-Fadai - "to remind the Russian president of the sacrifices made by Iran for the common goal of fighting terrorism."

And to remind about Qasem Soleimani, I will add.

Mr. Raisi, who does not have such a bright charisma, whose figure is not associated with many legends about military exploits and courage, often resorts to imitating Qassem Soleimani.

In a short episode 

their joint prayer in the mausoleum of Imam Reza in Mashhad, we see that Soleimani's cry was so expressive and even somewhat theatrical that a modest posing for cameras during the Kremlin prayer is just an austerity!

And the much anticipated first TV interview of #Iran's President-elect Raisi ends after 20 minutes.

The interview included footage of Qasem Soleimani crying in the Shrine of the eighth Shia imam, Reza, in Mashhad.

The video showed Soleimani and Raisi praying in the shrine.

https://t.co/yD9iqqa7jhpic.twitter.com/jalddnjitn

— Kian Sharifi (@KianSharifi) June 25, 2021

In a word, President Putin was lucky that, out of modesty, Mr. Raisi did not allow his religious feelings to fully unfold, he held the reins.

But even for this photo shoot in Iran, his wife, Mrs. Jamila Alamolkhoda, has to make excuses.

• Jamila Alamolhoda, wife of Iranian President Ibrahim Raisi

• © Wikimedia

On January 20, 2022, Mrs. Alamolhoda (daughter of an influential Meshkhed cleric) gave a press conference in the religious center of the country, Qom, on the subject (sit down, otherwise you will fall) of Michelle Obama's autobiography translated into Farsi.

The first lady of Iran decided to give an answer to Michelle Obama and, on the advice of her husband, write an autobiography based on the moral education of the nation.

And at this very press conference in Qom, Mrs. Alamolkhoda decided to defend her husband from attacks - why, they say, he arranged a public prayer in the Kremlin.

“It is our concept of spirituality that is reflected in the behavior of the president in the Kremlin,” she commented.

I won’t be able to show you “friendly caricatures” for prayers in the Kremlin with all my desire, but believe me, if the wife publicly stood up for Mr. President, it means that the critics hit hard.

7. What

meeting

The Fars news agency, which is close to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, did not stop at surveys of experts from the Foreign Ministry and the presidential administration on ceremonial and organization of meetings of top officials.

They made a detailed storyboard of the freeze-frames of the video recording of the meeting and, based on the body language, came to the conclusion that the Russian president allegedly experienced discomfort and stress during the meeting and even straightened his tie twice.

این حجم از وقاحت غیرقابل باوره!

یکی به شوخی نوشته بود "پوتین چون خیلی استرس داشت, آدامس میجوید استرسش کم بشه"

حالا خبرگزاری فارس یک گزارش کار کرده زیر عنوان "چینش بیسابقه اتاق کار پوتین" و میگه زبان بدن پوتین نشون داد که در دیدار با رئیسی خیلی استرس داشته!

گوبلز، روحت شاد :)) pic.twitter.com/REFOkvHkeA

— Ehsan Soltani (@ehsan_soltani) January 21, 2022

For connoisseurs of internal Iranian political cuisine, this is a very interesting nuance - the fact that Fars did not deny itself the pleasure of picking up an impressive video archive of the meetings of the President of the Russian Federation, in which the distance between him and other leaders is clearly not in favor of Mr. Raisi.

However, Mr. Raisi can silence all his ill-wishers simply by the fact that few Iranian presidents have been given such an honor to speak in the Russian parliament and read a sermon in the Sunni - central - mosque in Moscow.

• Iranian President Ibrahim Raisi at the Moscow Cathedral Mosque

• RIA News

• © Grigory Sysoev

All observers agree on one thing: Moscow and Tehran showed Washington their rapprochement and the possible formation of the Beijing-Moscow-Tehran axis.

What the leaders of the two countries talked about in Moscow, what they agreed on, and what has not yet been discussed, we will reflect on next time.

The point of view of the author may not coincide with the position of the editors.