Iran and Russia: Deepening security relations

The analyst of the American think tank, Foundation for Defense Democracies (FDD), has expressed alarm over the deepening of security relations between Tehran and Moscow.

The think tank warned that Ukraine and Israel are two battlegrounds where Tehran and Moscow not only benefit from strengthening their relationship but also use them to rearrange the global order.

According to the Russian state media RIA Novosti recently reported that Russia has expressed readiness to expand military and technical cooperation with Iran. 

Russian and Iranian defense ministers discussed strengthening security relations between the two countries during a Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) meeting in Kazakhstan. The SCO is a security group with members including Russia, India, China, Iran, Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan.

The think tank, citing media reports, stated that Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu emphasized the significant increase in military contracts between Tehran and Moscow during a meeting with his Iranian counterpart.

Senior FDD analyst Behnam Ben Taleblu believes that Russia and Iran have increasingly been able to set aside areas of tension and disagreement between them in order to confront common enemies. 

He went on to point out that the decision of the two countries to strengthen their relationship is not in response to Western pressure, raising alarm bells for the West to increase pressure and raise the costs of this relationship for both sides. The West must work on a strategy that focuses on magnifying the differences between Moscow and Tehran and highlighting them.

Ivana Stradner another analyst from FDD believes that with the approval of new packages by the United States for Ukraine, Russia is seeking to attract more assistance from its allies. 

In fact, Russia’s victory is also a success for Iran. Tehran and Moscow believe that the United States is their common enemy, and for this reason, both countries have united against Washington.

This analytical report stipulated that the confrontation with America forms the basis of cooperation between Russia and Iran. 

The meeting of the defense ministers of the two countries took place after the disclosure of confidential Russian government documents on April 17. These documents emphasized the need for greater coordination between Moscow, Iran, China, and North Korea to change the global order under US tutelage. 

Russian President Vladimir Putin also welcomed cooperation with Iran in the energy, trade, agriculture, and technology sectors in December, following increased economic cooperation between Moscow and Tehran to bypass Western sanctions.

The FDD also mentioned Russia and Iran’s cooperation in drone technologies, stating that the United States, the United Kingdom, and Canada imposed new sanctions on April 25 against entities supporting Iran’s unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) industry.

The final part of this report claimed that since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Tehran has provided hundreds of UAVs to Moscow in exchange for advanced military equipment.

Russia and Iran have both vehemently refuted allegations that Tehran sent Moscow drones to use in the conflict in Ukraine.

In July 2022, US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan made the first anti-Iran claims, saying purportedly that Washington had information indicating that the Islamic Republic was getting ready to give Russia up to several hundred drones, including weapons-capable UAVs on an expedited timeline for use in the conflict.

Experts and the media both emphasized the significance of Iranian drones, with much of the media coverage focused on increasing pressure on Iran. The Western media cannot deny the positive role of Iranian drones in the country's foreign policies.    

In an analysis, titled “Can Iran’s Shahed drones in Ukraine help ease tension with Russia?” military affairs expert and journalist Anton Mardasov discussed the impact of Iranian drones on the relations between Iran and Russia on the Al-Monitor website on August 06, 2023. 

According to Al-Monitor, low-cost Iranian drones have significantly impacted the battlefield. “Delivery of drones gave Iran the right to talk to Moscow on an equal footing,” Nikolay Kozhanov, a professor at the Persian Gulf Studies Center of Qatar University, told Al-Monitor.