The Russian-Iranian Relationship: How Solid Is It?

Abstract

Cooperation between Russia and Iran in pursuit of their common anti-American and anti-Western aims has grown strong and appears unlikely to be disrupted by their differences over other issues, including Moscow's good relations with some of Iran’s regional rivals in the Middle East. Still, the Russian-Iranian relationship is a somewhat one-sided one in that Moscow appears to receive greater benefits from Tehran than Tehran does from Moscow. This would suggest the possibility that the Russian-Iranian relationship might not remain as strong as it is now. Neither external great powers nor regional ones, though, appear to have the ability to draw Moscow away from Tehran or vice versa.