As of: February 3, 2024, 12:33 p.m
By: Markus Bickel
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Vladimir Putin and Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi in the Kremlin in December 2023.
© President of Russia Office/Imago
Iran has become Russia's main military supporter alongside North Korea.
The strategic partnership extends to the Middle East.
The deal is apparently close to completion: Russia will soon acquire Fateh-110 and Zolfaghar short-range missiles from Tehran, the Wall Street Journal reported in early January.
US officials fear that this would significantly expand the Russian army's military capabilities to attack targets in Ukraine at a critical phase of the war.
The government of US President Joe Biden has long been concerned that security cooperation between the regimes in Tehran and Moscow will strengthen the anti-Western alliance - not least with regard to the major conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East.
Not without reason.
“The Russian attack on Ukraine in February 2022 represents a turning point in relations with Iran,” David Jalilvand of the research consultancy Orient Matters tells Table.Media.
“Since then, both regimes have significantly expanded their cooperation, with far-reaching strategic complications.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin, his Iranian counterpart Ebrahim Raisi and his predecessor had already worked together on military issues, not least in supporting the regime of Bashar al-Assad in Syria.
But the two regimes subject to international sanctions have never coordinated their actions as closely as they have since the Russian attack two years ago - not least in the security and defense areas.
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Iran hopes for Su-35 fighter jets from Russia
This has been made clear by numerous meetings at the highest level in recent months.
Raisi only made a state visit to Moscow in December;
the meeting with Putin lasted five hours.
The Kremlin had previously announced that the expansion of relations would also extend to “the field of military-technological cooperation”.
Tehran, in turn, said in November 2023 that military cooperation with Russia was increasing day by day.
Agreements for the supply of Su-35 fighter jets, Mi-28 attack helicopters and Yak-130 trainer aircraft are said to have already been concluded.
Last September, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu visited Tehran and was shown a new launch system for Shahed-136 kamikaze drones as well as rockets, cruise missiles and air defense systems at a Revolutionary Guard exhibition site.
The Iranian army's chief of staff, Major General Mohammad Hossein Bagheri, asserted that relations with Moscow had reached a "new dimension" - and announced a joint exercise for this February.
Shoigu also met with the Chairman of the Supreme National Security Council, Ali Akbar Ahmadian, Defense Minister Mohammed-Reza Ashtiani and the head of the Revolutionary Guard Air Force, Amir Ali Hajizadeh.
Russia's concern for geopolitical balance in the Gulf
In addition to closely coordinated actions in the cyber area, Russia has recently appeared primarily as an importer of Iranian drones - while it has been hesitant about exporting military equipment to Iran.
The reason lies in geostrategic considerations, which, unlike the Iranian leadership, must also take Israel's security interests into account.
And they are guided by the concern not to disturb the geopolitical balance around the Persian Gulf, says Iran expert Jalilvand.
Since Putin continues to rely on good relations with the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, the delivery of fighter jets and helicopters is “a sensitive point.”
This has so far prevented Moscow from supporting Tehran militarily in a way that the mullahs' regime does in the other direction with Iranian drones.
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In addition, Moscow has been very careful in the past to prevent Iran from gaining strength in the Caucasus.
To date, it has been just as critical of Tehran's nuclear ambitions.
In addition, despite supporting Assad, things in Syria are proceeding significantly differently than Tehran: Russia intervened militarily on the side of the Alawite ruler in 2015, but a so-called “military disengagement mechanism” ensures regular meetings between Russian and Israeli officers.
There is also a direct line between the command centers of the Israeli and Russian military leadership.
Divergent approaches in Syria
Immediately after the protests against Assad began in 2011, Iran sent officers from its Revolutionary Guard to Syria and coordinated support for the Syrian army from the Shiite Hezbollah from Lebanon.
Without intervention by Iran and Russia, Assad would not have been able to put down the uprising by Sunni jihadist militias supported by the Gulf states.
On the other hand, he sees himself forced by Moscow's support to remain silent in the face of the recent increased Israeli attacks on Hamas, Hezbollah and Revolutionary Guard commanders in his own country.
Moscow would not tolerate active intervention in the war against Israel.
In view of the repeated attacks by US and British fighter jets against positions of the Iranian-backed Houthi militias in Yemen, the leaderships in Moscow and Tehran are appearing hand in hand.
At the UN Security Council in late January, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov condemned the attacks as “unjustified aggression” and a direct threat to international peace.
He had previously coordinated with his Iranian counterpart Hossein Amir-Abdollahian on further action in the Middle East.