Russia, Iran Pledge to Deepen Ties Amid Ukraine War

Russia and Iran’s security chiefs pledged Wednesday to deepen the military cooperation between the two countries, further cementing ties that have seen Tehran supply drones to bolster Moscow’s war effort in Ukraine. 

During a meeting in Tehran, Russian security council secretary Nikolai Patrushev and his Iranian counterpart Ali Shamkhani said they would jointly fight what they called Western interference in their countries, and expand economic ties in a mutual effort to evade sanctions.

“Expansion of bilateral and regional cooperation, especially with the neighboring countries in the field of economy, is part of our country’s strategic priorities,” Mr. Shamkhani said, according to Iranian state television.

Mr. Shamkhani and Mr. Patrushev, who also met Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, discussed “ways to combat attempts by Western intelligence agencies to interfere in the domestic affairs of the two countries,” a statement in the Russian state news agency TASS said.

Iran has accused Western countries, particularly the U.S., of orchestrating a protest movement that for weeks has called for the ouster of the Islamic Republic. The White House in October said Moscow may be advising Tehran on how to suppress the protests, “drawing on Russia’s extensive experience in suppressing open demonstrations.”

The relationship between Iran and Russia is evolving from a mostly transactional, military partnership to a more ideologically rooted anti-Western alliance, a development experts say is driven by Moscow’s international isolation following its invasion of Ukraine and the diplomatic breakdown between Iran and the West as talks to revive the 2015 nuclear deal have stalled.

“Iran has grown in stature in the eyes of Russians,” said Nicole Grajewski, a postdoctoral fellow with expertise in Russian-Iranian relations at the Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center. “Russia and Iran have similar aspirational world views. They want a transition of power away from the West.”

In Tehran, Mr. Patrushev repeated a common refrain from Moscow that the days of U.S. dominance are drawing to a close.

“The world is going through a turning point,” Mr. Patrushev said, according to Russian state daily Rossiyskaya Gazeta. “Russia and Iran today are at the forefront of the struggle for the establishment of a multipolar world order.”

Mr. Patrushev’s comments echoed long-held views by Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, who last week said the world was entering a new order, in which Asia would rise and the U.S. would decline under domestic problems and failure in foreign wars.

Iran and Syria forged a military cooperation in Syria where Tehran supported President Bashar al-Assad from the early days of the war. Moscow joined the fray in 2015 and helped turn the war in Mr. Assad’s favor.

As it did in the Middle East to support allies, Iran is deploying home-grown weapons and a number of Revolutionary Guard advisers to aid Russia in Ukraine.

In recent weeks, Russia has launched more than 300 Iranian drones targeting military units, power plants and civilian buildings in Kyiv, Ukrainian officials say. The U.S. says Tehran has deployed personnel to Crimea to train Russian pilots to use Iranian-made drones.

Iran acknowledged publicly Saturday for the first time that it has supplied drones to Russia, but said the transfer took place before Moscow invaded Ukraine. U.S. officials dispute the claim.

Last month, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the Russian army used only domestically produced equipment.

The European Union last month agreed to impose sanctions on three top Iranian military officials and an Iranian drone-maker, as the bloc concluded that Iran’s denials about supporting Russia’s war were untrue.

Iranian drones have changed the character of Russia’s air war and given Moscow a cheap way to bombard Ukrainian infrastructure, such as the electricity grid, in a more sustained and intensive manner when paired with its own arsenal of higher-end cruise and ballistic missiles, said Justin Bronk, senior research fellow with expertise in air power and military technology at the Royal United Services Institute think tank in London.

 “They create new and urgent air defense requirements,” Mr. Bronk said. “They are not some kind of wonder weapon. But because [the Russians] are firing so many, they are depleting Ukraine’s air defenses, which need to be urgently resupplied.”

Moscow and Tehran are also seeking to build a trade and economic alliance that can help them both resist American financial pressure.

Iranian Oil Minister Javad Owji last week said that sanctions on the two countries had created economic opportunities, which he hoped would soon involve banking, payment channels and Russian investment in Iran’s oil industry. Iran last month announced it would supply 40 turbines to help Russia’s sanctions-hit gas sector.

At the end of 2021, trade between the two nations increased by 81% to a maximum of $4 billion, of which Russian exports made up more than $3 billion, according to the Russian state news agency RIA Novosti.