Alwaght- Amid fast-developing all-out relations between Iran and Russia and their movement towards formation of a strategic alliance, Iran’s Supreme National Security Council’s chief Ali Shamkhani visited Moscow to join the Regional Security Forum that was held on Wednesday.
The last time the summit gathered together senior security officials from Russia, Iran, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan to discuss Afghanistan was May 2022, hosted by Tajikistan.
Although the meeting discusses the political, economic and security developments in Afghanistan, the political and media propaganda that the Western countries have launched in recent months concerning the military and security cooperation between Iran and Russia to suggest that this cooperation is prompted by the war in Ukraine make Shamkhani’s trip of significance from some perspectives.
On Monday, John Kirby, the coordinator for strategic communications in the National Security Council in the White House, expressed concern about the military cooperation between Iran and Russia and claimed that the strengthening of military-technical cooperation between the two allies can harm Washington’s partners in the region.
He further said that the relations between Iran and Russia in the field of defense are expanding and deepening. They openly declare that they want to have more military partnership with each other, he continued.
This comment by the White House official comes as the Wall Street Journal on Saturday, citing what it called sources from countries allied to the US, reported that Moscow and Tehran are advancing plans for Iranian-designed drone factory in Russia. Such claims by Western media have been repeatedly made without presenting valid documents and reasons and Russian and Iranian officials have repeatedly rejected them. Last week, Ukraine’s foreign minister, alleging that Iran supplies drones to Russia, threatened to cut off diplomatic ties with Tehran.
Regional topics on the forum’s agenda
Iran and Russia as two heavyweights in regional developments are facing a set of common security and political cases, and given their shared views on such issues as the need to push against interventions by transregional actors in regional affairs and to protect regional security and stability through regional cooperation, they continuously cooperate and consult with each other.
Post-US Afghanistan, Syria crisis case, the underway talks between Ankara and Damascus, ongoing Karabakh security riddle amid Baku excesses in violation of the 2020 peace treaty and role play of regional and transregional actors that fuels the tensions, Palestine security situation complication, fight against terrorism, Yemen war, and the simmering dispute between Iran and the Israeli regime are the most important common security and political cases Russia and Iran are dealing with.
Additionally, Ukraine war and the Russia-NATO intensification of confrontation motivate the Western and Ukrainian officials to paint Russian-Iranian partnership as a variable influential in the ongoing war, despite Tehran’s repeated emphasis that it is neutral to the conflict. This issue, indeed, makes Ukraine crisis even more significant in the current conditions. Therefore, during his visit, Shamkhani is expected to reiterate Iran’s neutraluty and emphasize political solution to the crisis. This Iranian stance was highlighted during visit to Iran of Russia’s Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev on November 9.
“Iran welcomes and supports any initiative that leads to a ceasefire and peace between Russia and Ukraine based on dialogue and is ready to play a role in ending the war,” Shamkhani told his Russian counterpart.
Western concern about expanding Iranian-Russian ties; the West should blame itself
The Western politicians voice concern about growing ties between Russia and Iran while they should take into consideration that the two countries’ good relations and boosted partnership in all areas are a natural result of interaction of these two grand and allied neighbors and should not be misinterpreted as an outcome of the developments in recent months caused by Ukraine war. Actually, the turning point in the Moscow-Tehran relations and their movement to strategic partnership should be sought in the eruption of Syrian crisis a decade ago and their joint confrontation of the large-scale Western-Arab plot to topple the legitimate government in Damascus.
Another reason that stands as a partly driver behind the two nations’ growing closeness, and which the Western strategists strongly admit, is the wrong Western policies represented by sanctions against Moscow and Tehran. Certainly, in response to this situation, the two countries drift to closer cooperation to secure their interests and ward off the Western pressure levers, just as the common threat posed by the West brought China and Russia closer to each other in recent years.
