President Masoud Pezeshkian of Iran and President Vladimir Putin of Russia inked the in Moscow earlier this month. The agreement comes as Iran looks for new security partners following the degradation of its proxy network and Russia looks for new pathways to influence the Middle East after the fall of the Moscow-backed Assad regime in Syria. Here’s what you need to know:
• None The deal has been in the works for years, but mounting geopolitical pressures on both states reinvigorated the need to finalize the deal quickly.
• None Russia finds itself with few friends and an following its invasion of Ukraine, and both Moscow and Tehran lost a key ally with the
• None Iran is also looking at a more hostile neighborhood compared to just a few months ago. With Assad gone, Hamas decimated, and Hezbollah weakened, Iran’s
• None Russia and Iran agreed to closely coordinate their local and global strategies and cooperate further on defense, intelligence, and counterterrorism, as well as trade, energy, finance, and other economic areas.
• None The agreement repeatedly references promoting a multipolar world order, as both states seek to and resist Western interests in the Middle East.
• None The treaty will go into effect in mid-February and will remain in place for twenty years.
• None If Iran’s economy is to survive a , collaboration with Russia to export its oil outside the regulated market will be paramount.
• None Russia’s economy also stands to gain from the agreement, which reaffirms the , a land route through Iran that bypasses the Suez Canal and satisfies Russia’s quest for warm-water port access.
• None According to former CIA intelligence officer , the deal is largely “form over substance,” despite the wide range of topics it addresses.
• None Notably, the agreement did not include a mutual defense clause, though this may have been foreshadowed by the unwillingness of either state to intervene to save the Assad regime in Syria.
• None Additionally, other points of conflict could emerge if Russia reconciles with the new Syrian regime or Iran for a nuclear bomb, destabilizing the region against Moscow’s interests.
• None Russia also wants to project strength in the Middle East and maintain its status as a player in the region—a true global superpower and not, as former U.S. President Obama described them, a mere
• None The timing of the agreement is also no coincidence, as Russia and Iran hope to stem the bleeding from the collapse of the Assad regime.
