Putin received Pezeshkiyan at the Kremlin, where they sat at a decorated table, next to which were placed the flags of the two countries. “We will discuss all areas of our cooperation and sign an agreement on a comprehensive strategic partnership,” Putin said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a strategic partnership agreement with his Iranian counterpart, Masoud Pezeshkiyan, in Moscow yesterday, including closer defense cooperation that is likely to raise concerns in the West. Pezeshkiyan, who visited the Kremlin for the first time since becoming president in July last year, said in a meeting before the signing that he believed the two leaders would be able to finalize a deal to build a nuclear power plant in Iran with Russia’s help.
Putin welcomed Pezeshkiyan to the Kremlin, where they sat at a decorated table, next to which were placed the flags of the two countries. “We will discuss all areas of our cooperation and sign an agreement on a comprehensive strategic partnership,” Putin said. “We have been working for a long time and I am very pleased that this work has been completed,” he added, stressing that the agreement will further strengthen trade and economic ties.
20-YEAR PARTNERSHIP
Since the start of the war in Ukraine, Moscow has built closer relations with Iran and other countries hostile to the United States, such as North Korea, and already has strategic pacts with Pyongyang and its close ally Belarus, as well as a strategic partnership agreement with China. The 20-year-old agreement between Russia and Iran is not expected to include the kind of mutual defense provision agreed with Minsk and Pyongyang, but it is still likely to unsettle the West, which sees both countries as malign influences on the world stage. Moscow and Tehran claim that their rapprochement is not directed against other countries.
ARMS SHIPMENTS
Russia made extensive use of Iranian drones during the war in Ukraine, and the United States accused Tehran in September of sending short-range ballistic missiles to Russia for use against Ukraine. Tehran denies sending drones or missiles. The Kremlin refused to confirm that it had received Iranian missiles, but acknowledged that cooperation with Iran includes “the most sensitive areas.”
Russia has previously sent S-300 air defense systems to Iran, and there have been reports in Iranian media of possible interest in purchasing more advanced systems such as the S-400, as well as in purchasing advanced Russian fighter jets.
THE “FLICKS” OF RUSSIA AND IRAN
Pezeshkian’s visit to Moscow also comes at a time when Iran’s influence is waning across the Middle East, after Islamist rebels seized power in Syria, toppling Iran’s ally Bashar al-Assad, and after Israel crushed pro-Iranian Hamas in the Palestinian territory of Gaza. Israel has also inflicted serious damage on the Iranian-backed Lebanese militia Hezbollah.
Russia is also at a disadvantage in Syria, where it has two military facilities crucial to its geopolitical and military influence in the Middle East and Africa, but their fate is uncertain since the country’s change of government.
LAST MEETING
Putin met with Pezeshkiyan on the sidelines of the BRICS summit in the Russian city of Kazan in October and at a cultural forum in Turkmenistan the same month. Pezeshkiyan, who spoke with Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin before meeting Putin, arrived in Moscow accompanied by his oil minister, and Western sanctions imposed on the sector, as well as the issue of circumventing them, are likely to be topics of discussion.
Mishustin said the two countries are actively working to deepen cooperation in transport, education, tourism and culture. Russia built Iran’s first nuclear power plant in Bushehr, which became operational in 2013, and the following year signed a contract to build two additional nuclear reactors.