On the eleventh of July 2022, while the Gulf states were putting the final touches to receive US President Joe Biden on his first trip to the region since taking office, the White House blew up a surprise by announcing the arrival of Russian delegations to Tehran twice in the recent period, with the aim of obtaining On Iranian drones, he attached the information to satellite images that showed a transport plane belonging to the Russian delegation on the ground, as well as other images of Iranian “Shahed 191” and “Shahed 129” unmanned aerial vehicles, which are equipped with precision-guided missiles, flying at Kashan Airport, located South of Tehran, the Americans said that Moscow, whose stockpile of precision missiles and drones had been consumed by the Ukrainian war, was overwhelmed by searching for ways to bring in drones and use them as soon as possible.No country has shown its willingness to satisfy Moscow's desires more than Iran, which, along with Israel, possesses the largest arsenal of drones and precision-guided missiles in the Middle East.
After decades of international sanctions, Iran has become a prolific producer of missiles and drones.
For example, Tehran recently opened an Ababil-2 drone factory in neighboring Tajikistan, Iran's first overseas military production facility.
Tehran tested its industries in Yemen at the hands of the Houthis, who struck the oil infrastructure in Saudi Arabia in 2019, and in Lebanon and Syria at the hands of the Lebanese Hezbollah, and now the Russians can also benefit from Iranian military production, as Tehran can provide Moscow with combat drones. To hit Ukrainian targets with better accuracy.
Photo report .. Details of the 313 strategic base for Iranian drones https://t.co/AS3DxzMfXS pic.twitter.com/4dAp7ZRIFL
- Al-Wefaq Newspaper (@alvefagh) May 28, 2022
However, the timing of the release of the information by the United States was likely intended, as the Americans had already kept the information since last June, but did not release it until before Biden's tour of the Middle East.
While Washington is aware that the Gulf states are dissatisfied with the Democratic administration of Biden and its former counterpart under Obama due to what it considers their inaction in confronting Iran, it seemed to it in its interest to shed light on Iran's nuclear ambitions and military activities, in an attempt to raise the usual anxiety about Iran. In addition to highlighting the Iranian links with Russia in particular, especially since some Gulf countries have shown a bias towards Moscow in the ongoing Ukrainian war.
However, this latest round of cooperation between Moscow and Tehran highlights the enhanced relations between the two countries, and their growing cooperation in many files, most notably the Syrian file, a cooperation that is likely to be enhanced by the ongoing war in Ukraine that pushes today's allies, and yesterday's opponents, towards overcoming their differences. And strengthening their cooperation in the face of Western policies and sanctions, of which both countries have become a major objective.
Russia and Iran.. Enemies of our neighborhood and friends of our neighborhood
Soviet soldiers in Iran 1941 (social networking sites)
Historically, Russia has fought multiple wars against Iran, or "Persia" as it was known before the Pahlavi rule in the twenties of the last century, the most famous of which is the war that uprooted part of the Iranian province of Azerbaijan to become today the Republic of Azerbaijan as we know it, in addition to Armenia and Georgia, which oscillated between the Ottoman Turkish and Safavid sovereignty Persian until the rise of Russian power.
As for the last explicit confrontation between the two countries, it occurred when Russia invaded the country with Britain during World War II to secure the oil and trade routes in their war against Germany, with whom the Shah of Iran “Reza Shah” sympathized with in his quest to break away from Western hegemony, before his son “Mohammed Reza” ascended. To the throne instead of him and become the closest ally of the West in the face of the Soviet Union, which surrounded Iran from the east and west, until the fall of the Shah’s regime in 1979 and the fall of the Soviets themselves in the early nineties.
After "Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini" inaugurated the Islamic Republic in the wake of the revolution, he called for not siding with either the communist East or the capitalist West, and adhering to Islamic ideas.
After the Soviets became apprehensive about the new Islamic regime despite its overthrow of an ally of the United States, and provided support for the Iraqi regime of Saddam Hussein against Tehran during the Iran-Iraq war, a positive page was opened with the signing of Iran and the Soviet Union with a number of agreements that included arms deals, which was followed by a strengthening of relations between the two countries after That Russia became a “federal republic” and its immediate danger moved away from the Iranian borders with the independence of the Soviet republics bordering Iran, Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan, especially as the latter rushed to ally with NATO, and then became an enemy of Moscow and Tehran together since then.
In terms of trade cooperation, relations between the two countries have strengthened over time.
Recently, the total bilateral trade in the period 2020-2021 increased by 19%, with Tehran increasing its imports from Russia by about 43%, and here it can be noted that the sanctions and geopolitical shifts paved the way for trade transactions between the two countries more than before.
Since the imposition of sanctions on Russia in 2014, Moscow has prioritized signing more trade deals with its non-European neighbor in many areas, including "halal meat" with a large market in the Middle East and Central Asia.
Today, the Iranian-Russian Joint Chamber of Commerce (IRJCC), based in Tehran, promotes the interests of Iranian and Russian companies in the areas of infrastructure, planning and non-oil products.
Today, the Tehran-based Iran-Russia Joint Chamber of Commerce (IRJCC) promotes the interests of Iranian and Russian companies in the areas of infrastructure, planning and non-oil products.
(Reuters)
However, the fact that the relationship between Russia and Iran is more allied than hostile today cannot be overlooked because of their fiercest common hostility to the United States, and that their close friendship is not free from differences on fundamental issues at the end of the day.
This was demonstrated, for example, in the Syrian file, as Moscow has intervened militarily since 2015 in order to position itself geopolitically in the Middle East, and play a broader role in politics in the region with the support of its most prominent ally, the Assad regime, a goal that at times intersects and at times contradicts Iran’s goals of turning the country into a special center Influence, and a military launching pad for attacks on Syria's anti-Iranian neighbors, most notably Israel, with which Moscow had until recently had good relations, especially under Putin's administration.
Therefore, while Russia seemed interested in maintaining friendly relations with Iran, at the same time Israel and even the Gulf states exchanged a positive policy that Iran did not like, especially when Russia emerged as an alternative source of military deals for the Gulf states.
In addition, Russia’s attempts to position itself in the Middle East at the expense of the United States depend, in part, on attracting the traditional allies of the United States to the orbit of Russian relations and interests, at least partially, and then weakening the strength of the American alliance in the region, which of course did not agree with Tehran’s vision. .
Then the nuclear agreement talks between Tehran and Washington were resolved as one of the axes of the relationship between the two countries.
Despite Moscow's desire to conclude a nuclear agreement with Iran, it may be harmed by Iran's rapid openness to Western economies, especially with European countries' desire to access Iranian gas, which eases Russian pressure on European economies.
However, Iran's policy continues to view Russia as a reliable country against Western pressure despite its economic fragility, especially after Western sanctions have also affected it, which makes it a candidate to work with Tehran to establish an effective system that bypasses Western sanctions.
As the Ukraine war began, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi was one of the first world leaders to call Putin to declare support, blaming NATO and US "provocations" entirely.
(Reuters)
Therefore, since taking office last August, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi has been keen to appear different from his predecessor, Hassan Rouhani, who was concerned with repairing relations with the West, responding to the call of the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic, Ali Khamenei, for closer relations with Russia and China. .
While Russia topped the list of countries visited by Raisi this year, Russia succeeded, one month after Raisi took office, in including his country in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, which is led by Russia and China and includes Central Asian countries of strategic importance to Tehran.
Finally, with the start of the Ukraine war, the Iranian president was one of the first world leaders to call Putin to declare support, blaming NATO and US "provocations" entirely.
Ukraine war deepens Russian-Iranian relations
Before US President Biden caught his breath returning from his tour of the Middle East, the red carpet was spread for his Russian counterpart Putin on the grounds of "Mehrabad" airport in the Iranian capital on July 19, in his second visit since the outbreak of the Ukrainian war last February.
The Russian President met his Turkish and Iranian counterparts within the meetings of the "Astana" process, through which the three parties are following up their military and political interests in Syria.
Nevertheless, the war in Ukraine was at the forefront of their talks, especially the issue of establishing a safe passage for grain from Ukraine under the auspices of Turkey.
Here, it can be said that the Russian invasion of Ukraine constitutes an important turning point that has strengthened relations between Moscow and Tehran. Although Iran initially refrained from supporting initiatives that undermined the international legal basis for Ukraine's territorial integrity since 2014, it quickly turned to supporting Russian positions to a greater extent in 2018. That is, after the United States withdrew from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), known as the Vienna Agreement.
As a result of this growing consensus, the Russian company Gazprom and the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) announced in a webcast last July the signing of a memorandum of understanding worth $40 billion, including Russian technological support for the development of the two Iranian gas fields in Kish. and "Pas", as well as six other oil and gas fields, in addition to the construction of pipelines to export gas.
Such an agreement could pave the way for new cooperation in the energy field, helping the two countries to overcome the pressure of international sanctions on them.
It seems, then, that the newly imposed sanctions on Russia will contribute to strengthening the strength of trade and economic relations with Iran more than the 2014 sanctions, given the severity of the current sanctions, which Tehran seeks to exploit efficiently to improve its economic situation, which has also deteriorated in recent years, and even ignited popular protests against Prices hiked a few months ago.
Moreover, it is expected that Turkey and Israel’s support for Ukraine and NATO will lead to a relative distance between Moscow on the one hand and Ankara and Tel Aviv on the other, which means greater rapprochement between Moscow and Tehran, especially in the Syrian file, at the expense of the previous coordination between Russia and Israel.
As a result, it is likely that Iran will reap security and geopolitical benefits in addition to the economic benefits that it has obtained as a result of the ongoing war in Ukraine and the transformations it has brought about in Russia’s political and economic position globally, not to mention that the Russian army’s preoccupation with the Ukraine war now means that it will need to rely more on the efforts of Tehran to protect the Assad regime, and it is an opportunity for Iran to further consolidate its presence and influence.
In the end, one of the most important pages of cooperation between Russia and Iran is military cooperation, especially after international sanctions have severely damaged the Russian economy, and limited its ability to build or buy technology for military use, and then put Russia in a real predicament after about five months of The start of the war, as the Russian forces are now suffering from the lack of a sufficient number of reconnaissance and combat aircraft, after they consumed a large part of their fleet, which prompted them to resort to Tehran to fill this deficit.
In the end, it seems clear that Russia's international isolation and its tense relations with the West have provided Tehran with additional incentives to strengthen relations with Russia, and at the same time have given Russia important benefits to protect its role in Syria and circumvent sanctions with the help of a relatively smaller but expert country in circumventing sanctions.
The longer the war in Ukraine continues, the more likely the chances of Russian-Iranian cooperation will be, which gives Iran political weight in the region and makes it a heavy partner in the anti-Western camp.