The Russian Perspective on the Strategic Agreement with the Islamic Republic
The Russian Perspective on the Strategic Agreement with the Islamic Republic
Iran and Russia are set to sign a strategic agreement during the first visit of Masoud Pezeshkian, President of the Islamic Republic, to Moscow.
This document, known as the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership Agreement, envisions the expansion of political, economic, and defense interactions, and according to the Kremlin spokesperson, it will form the basis for bilateral agreements in various fields.
Recently, Kazem Jalali, Iran’s ambassador to Russia, announced that the new document contains 47 clauses, but no further details have been disclosed so far. Since this document needs to be ratified by the parliaments of both countries, the full text is expected to be published soon. The new agreement is intended to replace a treaty signed by Russia and Iran in 2001 (1379). This document could be renewed every five years indefinitely, but on its twentieth anniversary, Hassan Rouhani’s administration sought to update the cooperation agreement with Russia. Subsequently, the thirteenth administration declared strategic relations with China and Russia as its international priorities.
Following the signing of a long-term cooperation document with China, the drafting of a similar document with Russia was initiated. However, its coordination took much longer than initially expected and only coincided with Russia’s war against Ukraine, which highlighted Iran’s role in supplying arms and bypassing Western sanctions, elevating Moscow-Tehran relations to a new level. Diplomatic sources told Russian media that the unprecedented expansion of interactions between the two countries necessitated the new agreement.
Russian media, in their coverage of the signing of the comprehensive agreement with Iran, have mainly focused on the following topics:
Is the agreement with Iran similar to Russia’s agreement with North Korea?
Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin spokesperson, refrained from giving a direct answer to this question from reporters and merely emphasized that this document is of great importance to Russia. A few months ago, Sergei Lavrov, Russia’s Foreign Minister, stated that the agreement with Iran provides a framework for expanding military-defense cooperation between the two countries. The Kommersant newspaper, quoting a senior diplomat whose identity was not disclosed, considered cooperation in defense and security issues an important part of the new document. However, in recent days, Kazem Jalali, the Ambassador of the Islamic Republic of Iran in Moscow, emphasized that the new document will not include a mutual defense clause similar to those mentioned in Russia’s agreements with North Korea and Belarus. According to TASS and quoting Iran’s ambassador in Russia, independence and self-sufficiency in defense and security matters are very important for Iran, and Tehran has no interest or need to participate in military alliances.
Meanwhile, Iran, alongside Belarus and North Korea, is among the supporters of Russia’s war against Ukraine. Following the signing of Russia’s pact with North Korea last summer, Pyongyang sent its troops to assist Russian forces and has openly increased the shipment of weapons.
Message to Donald Trump
Russian and Iranian officials emphasize that the strategic cooperation agreement between Russia and Iran is the result of intensive consultations over the past decade, especially in the last two or three years, and is not related to current international developments. However, all Russian media have declared the signing of the strategic cooperation agreement between Russia and Iran as a clear message to Donald Trump. According to RIA Novosti, Russia and Iran are taking a decisive step towards each other while Donald Trump, the elected President of the United States, supports maximum pressure on Iran and does not rule out war with this country.
Vladimir Sazhin, an Iran affairs expert, stated in an interview with Nezavisimaya Gazeta that the work on this document took years to complete, and the fact that the groundwork for signing it was finally laid just days before Donald Trump’s entry into the White House means that Moscow and Tehran are sending a message to Washington that they are united against the West and, despite recent sanctions and turmoil in the Middle East, are standing against the West. The Kommersant newspaper’s report emphasized the same point, stating that Russia and Iran, by signing the new agreement at a time when eyes are on Washington and no one is certain about the steps of the new U.S. administration, are sending Donald Trump both a positive message and a warning.
The newspaper added that, on one hand, the governments of Russia and Iran want to show Trump that they are ready to cooperate, and on the other hand, they warn that a united front against the West has been formed, and if Washington seeks hostile steps, it will be faced with a strong shield jointly held by Moscow and Tehran.
Simultaneously, according to this report, given the significant differences in Russia’s relations with Iran and U.S. policies towards Iran, it is not unlikely that Moscow-Tehran cooperation will face a serious challenge as soon as the new agreement is signed and become a factor of further tension between Moscow, Tehran, and Western countries, especially the U.S.
Deepening Economic Cooperation
Abbas Araghchi, Iran’s Foreign Minister, on the eve of signing the new cooperation agreement with Russia, announced three important sections in this document: economic, scientific-technical, and cultural. Kazem Jalali, Iran’s ambassador in Moscow, in a new interview with TASS, called this document the key to deepening economic relations and expressed hope that with the signing of this document, the growing trend of trade-economic interactions between the two countries would continue. According to Iran’s ambassador in Russia, the trade interactions between the two countries increased to more than four billion dollars last year. Iran’s customs statistics estimate the trade exchanges with Russia at 19 billion dollars during the first nine months of the current Iranian calendar year.
According to Nikita Smagin, an Iran affairs expert, this means that despite officials’ claims, the trade exchanges between the two countries, which peaked in 2020 and reached five billion dollars, have once again declined and cannot increase further because fundamental obstacles that have never allowed Iran and Russia to become significant trade partners still exist.
Differences Between Strategic Partners
While media close to the Kremlin have turned a blind eye to the differences between Moscow and Tehran, Iranian officials’ emphasis that Tehran will not recognize the occupied regions of Ukraine as part of Russian territory has sparked protests from Group Z. Group Z consists of reporters supporting Russia’s war against Ukraine and has become one of the most important news sources in Russia on Telegram within the limited media space.
Opposition media to the Kremlin have pointed out that despite close cooperation, the relations between Russia and Iran have been complex and accompanied by tensions. The Russian section of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reports on the differences between Moscow and Tehran regarding the occupied regions of Ukraine, the three islands, the Zangezur corridor, Moscow’s failures to Tehran in implementing economic, nuclear, and military contracts, and also the problems that arose for the two countries following the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime in Syria. Nikolai Meshcheryakov, a Middle East affairs expert, believes in an interview with the Russian section of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty that signing the new agreement is only a historic step on paper and will not lead to fundamental changes in the relations between the two countries in practice.
The Moscow Times has written that Iran and Russia were suspicious of each other in the past and now do not trust each other. According to this report, the Iranian government wants to benefit from its proximity to Russia, but this step will provoke protests from the Iranian people.