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| Full-fledged allies: How Russia and Iran are putting up a barrier to Western hegemony |
| 2025-01-19 |
| Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited. [REGNUM] by Kirill Semenov On January 17, after talks in the Kremlin, Russian and Iranian Presidents Vladimir Putin and Masoud Pezeshkian signed a Treaty on Comprehensive Strategic Partnership between the two countries. This document is intended to replace the current Treaty on the Fundamentals of Relations and Principles of Cooperation between Russia and Iran, signed back in 2001. "We are satisfied with the results of the current negotiations. I am confident that the agreements reached will contribute to the further strengthening of the entire complex of Russian-Iranian relations and ties. Of course, the signed interstate agreement will serve this ," the Russian leader said. According to Pezeshkian, the Islamic Republic's bilateral relations with the Russian Federation are comprehensive. "In fact, I tried, I made every effort to ensure that all the problems that exist on our side were eliminated to this day ," the Iranian president said. THE LONG ROAD TO PARTNERSHIP The current document records an important shift in relations between the two states, when the Russian Federation and the Islamic Republic not only signed a Strategic Partnership Treaty, but also explicitly spelled out the military aspects of interaction in it. Despite long-standing friendly relations at the present stage, this psychological barrier was quite difficult for both Moscow and Tehran to cross. The parties tried to be cautious about describing their bilateral ties as “strategic”, not to mention avoiding directly declaring military coordination. It was important for Moscow not to flaunt its special character of interaction with Tehran in front of other Middle Eastern partners, primarily Saudi Arabia and the UAE, and up to a certain point, Israel. And the Iranian leadership has always been weighed down by the domestic political factor and historical memory. For many Iranians, the Russian Empire was the country that deprived them of part of their ancestral lands, in their opinion, and suppressed uprisings and revolutions. The Soviet Union occupied the country together with Britain and tried to seize “Soviet” South Azerbaijan and “Red” Kurdistan in 1945. And then it was declared a “lesser Satan” — after the formation of the Islamic Republic and the war in Afghanistan, where Tehran was on the side of the Afghan mujahideen opposing the Soviet troops. But this was overcome. Iran, not without Russia's help, reconciled with its Arab neighbors, and Moscow trusts Israel less and less, having sided with the Kyiv regime. The leadership of the Islamic Republic has already encountered serious domestic political challenges, and those who would have negatively perceived any such agreements with Moscow have gradually moved to the opposition camp. Therefore, Iran increasingly needs to rely on Russia, including for the purposes of its domestic political stability and ability to resist color revolution scenarios. In fact, such a long discussion of the points of the concluded Treaty was largely connected with these aspects. By the way, a similar Chinese-Iranian agreement was also discussed and agreed upon for more than five years. It is obvious that the special military operation showed Russia who is its partner and who is its fellow traveler. Therefore, the obvious turn of the Russian Federation to the East, including towards the Islamic world, not only allowed to consolidate the strategic nature of relations between Moscow and Tehran, but also forced us to rethink our civilizational closeness. This probably accelerated the process of coordinating the document and influenced its content. Among other things, the preamble emphasizes the "closeness of cultures and spiritual and moral values" of the peoples of the Russian Federation and the Islamic Republic. FROM ECONOMY TO DEFENSE The Embassy of the Islamic Republic in Moscow told Regnum that the agreement between Iran and Russia covers many areas of activity. This includes trade and economic cooperation, interaction in the energy sector, environmental protection, as well as defense and security. Iranian diplomats emphasized that the process of developing this agreement has been underway for many years, since the end of 2014, and the negotiation process on this document has continued under three different Iranian governments. According to them, this document is actually an updated version of the Agreement on Long-Term Cooperation, which was ratified and signed by the two countries in late 2001. Since 2003, when this Agreement entered into force, it was in effect for ten years, that is, until 2013, and then was automatically extended for another five. Now it is the basis for cooperation between Iran and Russia. And the new Agreement will be "a kind of continuation, addition and update of the previous one . " As noted by the Iranian embassy, the agreement was approved by the two countries at the beginning of the summer. At the same time, Moscow and Tehran were looking for a suitable time to sign the document. "Over these two or three decades, Iran and Russia have expanded their cooperation in various fields and in all areas of the economy, trade and energy. Therefore, it is natural that in accordance with the requirements of the time, the level and scale of our relations, we needed to update the previous document. This is a bilateral agreement aimed at strengthening relations between Iran and Russia ," the embassy emphasized. Relations between Iran and Russia, two neighbors, have been tested throughout history, but are now at their peak in the last ten years. Both countries, facing common threats and challenges and sharing a common goal of resisting the Western dominance system, have long needed to take their relations to a new qualitative level, based on a codified and long-term strategy. Therefore, the strategic partnership between Tehran and Moscow, enshrined in the Treaty, can become a turning point for the realization of this important goal. It is no coincidence that Article 2 of the Treaty emphasizes “the rejection of unipolarity and hegemony in world affairs,” and Moscow and Tehran undertake to “oppose interference by third parties in the internal and external affairs” of the two states. FOR NOW, A STRATEGIC ALLIANCE INSTEAD OF A MILITARY BLOC Against the backdrop of confrontation with the collective West, the Treaty may become a step towards the gradual transformation of bilateral relations into a full-fledged strategic alliance. Of course, this does not mean the creation of a formal military-political alliance like NATO. Unlike NATO, Article 3.3 of the Russian-Iranian agreement does not speak of mandatory aid and support, but of the inadmissibility of providing military or other assistance to the aggressor that contributes to the continuation of aggression against the signatory parties. At the same time, the provisions spelled out in the Treaty are a significant step forward towards an alliance, and its other points open up broad opportunities for the formalization of defense and military-technical cooperation between Moscow and Tehran. In particular, already in Article 1 of the document, "cooperation in the field of defense and security" is called one of the priorities in Russian-Iranian relations. Article 4 is devoted to cooperation between the security and intelligence services of the two countries, which will be regulated by separate agreements, as well as the exchange of information between them. Article 5 covers all areas of defense cooperation between Iran and Russia. In turn, paragraph 4 of this article, which speaks of consultations in the event of threats, corresponds to the spirit of Article 4 of the NATO treaty, which also speaks of consultations preceding the entry into force of paragraph 5 on military assistance. By the way, the fifth provision of the North Atlantic Treaty also allows for broad interpretations and does not oblige NATO member countries to come to the aid of a member of the bloc that has been subjected to aggression exclusively by military means, but only in the way that each of the states “considers necessary” as a result of those same consultations. A separate Article 6 is devoted to military-technical cooperation (MTC) between Russia and Iran. The institutionalization of MTC was secured by the provision on the annual meeting of the relevant bodies responsible for such activities. And, finally, Article 7 establishes cooperation in the fight against terrorism, extremism, as well as interaction "on issues of protecting public order and ensuring public safety." WEAK LINK Trade and economic ties, unlike military ones, and the economy have always been the weak link in Russian-Iranian relations. The trade turnover between the two countries is within 3-4 billion dollars, while Iran's trade turnover with its neighbors from the UAE has exceeded $11 billion. The signing of the Treaty should revive the dynamics of economic and financial interaction between Moscow and Tehran. Trade and economic ties are of particular importance given that both countries are facing a large number of tough sanctions from the United States. And the signed Treaty should help create alternative mechanisms for their neutralization through closer cooperation. And here it is important to pay attention to the certain symbolism of the signing of the agreement, which took place three days before Donald Trump , who threatens new restrictions against Iran, returned to the Oval Office. In turn, Russia was subjected shortly before the signing of the Treaty to another package of illegal sanctions, including those concerning oil exports. According to the Russian president, there should be less bureaucracy and more "specific actions" in trade between Russia and Iran. Vladimir Putin noted that the meaning of the concluded agreement is precisely to create basic additional conditions for the development of trade and economic ties. There have already been some advances in this direction, which was announced at the press conference following the signing of the Treaty. In particular, our countries have almost completely switched to national currencies in mutual settlements, are striving to build sustainable channels of credit and banking interaction, and are working on linking national payment systems. Thus, in 2024, the share of transactions in Russian rubles and Iranian rials exceeded 95 percent of all bilateral trade operations. Further implementation of the North-South project is also very promising. "As for North-South, we are interested in this, these are additional opportunities for promoting our goods - both Iranian and Russian - on the world market. Not only we are interested in this, but also those countries that are actively developing trade and economic ties with us ," said Vladimir Putin. Finally, during the talks in Moscow, Russia and Iran agreed on the route of the gas pipeline to the Islamic Republic via Azerbaijan. As it became known, the talks are in the final stage of discussing the price of supplies. At the first stage, the volume of gas transferred to Iran may amount to 2 billion cubic meters, with the prospect of increasing it to 55 billion cubic meters. As Iranian experts emphasize, given the numerous opportunities that the two countries have, the strategic partnership agreement will give impetus to the creation of a complementary economic space. It is especially noted that Russia and the EAEU represent a very large market, and Iran's private sector, thanks to its opportunities, can benefit greatly after the mechanisms of the Treaty begin to work. The expected entry into force of a full-scale free trade agreement between Iran and the EAEU will undoubtedly help to expand Russian-Iranian commercial ties. The Agreement may also contribute to Iran's more active and, most importantly, effective participation in tandem with Russia in the SCO and BRICS. Masoud Pezeshkian also drew special attention to this aspect. "The changes that are taking place in our region, taking into account the role of new organizations and structures such as BRICS and SCO, are indeed new opportunities, new potential for both countries to interact in the future. The active participation of Iran and Russia in these new regional structures is of great importance for all of us ," the Iranian president said. *** Although the signing of the Strategic Partnership Agreement had been planned for a long time and could even have taken place during the BRICS summit in Kazan, it seems most appropriate now. This is also due to the events in Syria, when a certain mistrust arose between Moscow and Tehran due to the refusal to support the Bashar al-Assad regime in the final stages of its existence. The Islamic Republic also fears that after Trump's arrival in the White House, peace talks in Ukraine will begin, and Iran may become a "bargaining chip." At the same time, Moscow is also watching with some caution the reformist government's readiness to make concessions to the West and gradually surrender its positions in the region in exchange for lifting sanctions. Now Iran may be required to refuse cooperation with Russia. The treaty should at least reduce such concerns and make Moscow and Tehran trust each other more. The strategic nature of the relationship and partnership between the two countries is now formalized and enshrined in paper, along with the corresponding obligations - and this is not something that can be easily ignored. |
| Posted by:badanov |