On Tuesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin met with Ali Khamenei, Supreme Leader of Iran, the country’s most important and powerful political and religious office, in Tehran, Iran. For Putin, it was the first exit from the territories of the former Soviet Union since the Russian invasion of Ukraine began, and it appears to have been successful. Indeed, Khamenei has openly sided with the Russian regime and backed and supported the invasion more than other countries that have so far proved pro-Russian, such as China. According to the Iranian office, Khamenei said to Putin:
War is a violent and difficult effort, and the Islamic Republic [l’Iran] not happy at all that people are affected by it. If you had not taken the initiative, the war would have been started by the West.
Khamenei’s words are important because they show how the relationship between Russia and Iran is solidifying after many years of “withheld friendship”: ties based on cooperation and closeness (e.g. both states fought alongside the Syrian regime of Bashar al-Assad). , but held back by mutual distrust, also because of Putin’s attempts to forge alliances with Israel and the Arab countries, enemies of Iran.
According to several commentators, however, today would be the stage for a real “partnership” between the two countries, thanks largely to the war in Ukraine, which prompted the West to impose severe sanctions on Russia and isolate it internationally. Iran has also been under sanctions for years, and its regime has over time become increasingly able to circumvent them, albeit with many difficulties.
Ali Vaez, Iran expert at the International Crisis Group Study Center, told the New York Times, “This is no longer a partnership based on choice, but an alliance based on necessity.”
Something has already happened between the two countries in the past few weeks. For example, Gazprom, Russia’s state-owned energy company, has signed a $40 billion non-binding deal to help develop Iran’s gas and oil field exploitation; At the same time, Russia is trying to buy drones from Iran for the war in Ukraine (this topic was not publicly discussed on Tuesday).
Dmitri Peskov, the spokesman for the Kremlin (the Russian Presidency), added that the two countries may soon sign a strategic cooperation agreement that will expand their cooperation in the banking and financial sectors.