Abstract
Russian–Iranian relations are rooted in a troubled past that continues to haunt their contemporary ties. Neither trusts the other, and misunderstandings abound. They have a common interest in their mutual hostility towards the US. But there is a fundamental mismatch in their perspectives. Russia’s is global while Iran’s is regional, and Moscow has shown repeatedly that it is prepared to break undertakings to Iran when larger benefits to Russia are on offer. Moreover, Russia has other Middle East partners it is wooing. Russia and Iran can work well together when they have the same objective—as now in Syria. But as their interests change, the incentives to maintain these close ties will diminish. This is a tactical, not a strategic, relationship.
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Notes
- 1.
For detail on the way in which past frictions in the Russia–Iran relationship affect present ties, see Vatanka (2018).
- 2.
This instrumentalism is set out in detail in Rodkiewicz (2017, p. 41).
- 3.
Australian scholar Lo (2015) sets out this Russian approach in detail—see especially Chapter 3. He sees the most serious weakness of this approach in the fact that it is rooted in an idealised version of the past, a revamped Concert of Great Powers, rather than looking to a new model of international relations that reflects the changing dynamics of power and influence in the contemporary international situation.
- 4.
Russian scholar Kozhanov (2016) examines this conundrum in detail in Chapter 6 “The Marriage of Convenience: Russian-Iranian Cooperation in Syria”. On p. 89 he describes Israel as Russia’s “silent partner” in the Middle East. Kozhanov concludes emphatically that the Russian-Iranian relationship is far from an alliance.
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Parmeter, I. (2020). Russia’s Growing Relationship with Iran: Strategic or Tactical?. In: Akimov, A., Kazakevitch, G. (eds) 30 Years since the Fall of the Berlin Wall. Palgrave Studies in Economic History. Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-0317-7_7
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