“Putin and Pezeshkian to Sign Strategic Cooperation Pact on Friday, Raising Concerns in the West”

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian are set to hold high-level talks on Friday, with a key focus on strengthening bilateral ties through a strategic cooperation agreement. The move, which has been long anticipated, is expected to raise concerns in Western countries, who view both Russia and Iran as significant challenges to international security and stability.

According to a statement released by the Kremlin, the two leaders will discuss a range of crucial issues during Pezeshkian’s visit to Moscow, particularly developments in the Middle East. Among the most pressing topics are the ongoing situation in Syria, the complexities of the Israel-Hamas conflict, and the broader geopolitical landscape of the Caucasus region. Additionally, the nuclear program of Iran is expected to be a central topic, as the West continues to express concerns over Tehran’s ambitions in this area.

The Kremlin emphasized that the relationship between Russia and Iran is growing rapidly, grounded in mutual respect and alignment of interests. Both countries are looking to deepen their cooperation in areas such as energy, security, and military affairs, despite facing global scrutiny for their actions on the world stage.

As the strategic cooperation agreement is signed, it marks a significant step in the relationship between the two nations, further cementing their partnership at a time when tensions with Western powers remain high.

Earlier, Russia’s state-owned TASS news agency reported that Iran’s ambassador to Moscow, Kazem Jalali, clarified that the strategic cooperation agreement between Russia and Iran would not include a mutual defense clause, unlike the pacts Moscow has signed with North Korea and Belarus. This clarification comes as the West closely monitors the growing ties between the two nations, wary of any military alliances that could shift the balance of power in the region.

Jalali’s statement suggests that while the agreement will deepen bilateral relations in areas such as trade, energy, and security, it will not create formal defense obligations between Russia and Iran. This distinction may ease some of the concerns in Western capitals, where the prospect of military collaboration between Russia and Iran has been a source of anxiety.

Iran’s Ambassador to Moscow, Kazem Jalali, further emphasized that the nature of the strategic cooperation agreement between Russia and Iran is distinct from the defense-focused pacts signed by Moscow with Belarus and North Korea. Jalali noted that while those agreements established broader partnership relations, the Iran-Russia deal does not specifically address areas such as mutual defense. “Our country’s independence and security, as well as self-reliance, are extremely important. We are not interested in joining any bloc,” Jalali stated, signaling Iran’s intent to maintain its autonomy in international relations.

The growing ties between Russia and Iran have become more pronounced in recent years, particularly since Moscow’s February 2022 invasion of Ukraine, which has led to heightened cooperation between the two nations in areas like trade and energy. According to the Kremlin’s statement, total trade between the two countries has seen a significant increase, rising 15.5% year-on-year in the first ten months of 2024, underlining the strengthening economic and strategic partnership despite mounting international scrutiny.

Last year, Ukraine accused Russia of launching over 8,000 Shahed drones, which were reportedly developed by Iran, since the beginning of its invasion in February 2022. Ukraine first raised the allegation in the autumn of 2022, when it claimed that Iran had supplied the drones to Russia, a move that further strained relations between Kyiv and Tehran.

These Shahed drones, also known as kamikaze drones, have been used by Russia to target Ukrainian infrastructure, causing significant damage. The drones are part of Russia’s increasing reliance on unmanned aerial systems (UAVs) as part of its military strategy in Ukraine. Iran’s involvement in supplying these drones has been a point of contention, with Western nations accusing Tehran of indirectly supporting Russia’s military aggression in Ukraine, a claim that Iran has denied.

Courtesy: Hindustan Times

References

• ^ Examples include the Hoot, Kowsar, Zelzal, Fateh-110, Shahab-3, Sejjil, Fattah, Khorramahahr, Kheibar Shekan, Emad, Ghadr-110, Hormuz-1, Dezful, Qiam 1, Ashoura, Fajr-3, Haj Qasem, Persian Gulf, Raad-500, Zolfaghar, Hoveyzeh, Soumar, Fakour-90, Paveh, Rezvan, Samen, Tondar-69.^{[citation needed]}
• Citations
• ^ Jeroen Temperman (2010). State-Religion Relationships and Human Rights Law: Towards a Right to Religiously Neutral Governance. Brill. pp. 87–. ISBN 978-90-04-18148-9. Archived from the original on 10 April 2023. Retrieved 20 June 2015. The official motto of Iran is [the] Takbir (‘God is the Greatest’ or ‘God is Great’). Transliteration Allahu Akbar. As referred to in art. 18 of the constitution of Iran (1979). The de facto motto however is: ‘Independence, freedom, the Islamic Republic.’
• ^ “Surface water and surface water change”. Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Archived from the original on 24 March 2021. Retrieved 11 October 2020.
• ^ Jump up to:^a b “Estimated population in Iran by province in 2024”. www.iranopendata.org/fa/. Iran Open Data (IOD). 5 December 2024. Retrieved 27 December 2024.
• ^ Jump up to:^a b c d “World Economic Outlook Database, October 2024 Edition. (Iran)”. International Monetary Fund. Archived from the original on 16 April 2024. Retrieved 11 November 2024.
• ^ “Gini Index coefficient”. The World Factbook. Retrieved 24 September 2024.
• ^ “Human Development Report 2023/24” (PDF). United Nations Development Programme. 13 March 2024. p. 289. Archived (PDF) from the original on 13 March 2024. Retrieved 13 March 2024.
• ^ Jump up to:^a b “Definition of IRAN”. merriam-webster.com. Archived from the original on 24 September 2022. Retrieved 24 September 2022.
• ^ “Iran”. 4 November 2024.
• ^ Jump up to:^a b MacKenzie 1998.
• ^ Schmitt 1987.
• ^ Laroche. 1957. Proto-Iranian *arya- descends from Proto-Indo-European (PIE) *ar-yo-, a yo-adjective to a root *ar “to assemble skillfully”, present in Greek harma “chariot”, Greek aristos, (as in “aristocracy“), Latin ars “art”, etc.
• ^ Shahbazi 2004.
• ^ Wilson, Arnold (2012). “The Middle Ages: Fars”. The Persian Gulf (RLE Iran A). Routledge. p. 71. ISBN 978-1-136-84105-7.
• ^ Borjian, Maryam; Borjian, Habib (2011). “Plights of Persian in the Modernization Era”. In Fishman, Joshua A; García, Ofelia (eds.). Handbook of Language and Ethnic Identity: Volume 2: The Success-Failure Continuum in Language and Ethnic Identity Efforts. New York: Oxford University Press. p. 266. ISBN 978-0-19-539245-6. ‘Iran’ and ‘Persia’ are synonymous. The former has always been used by Iranian-speaking peoples themselves, while the latter has served as the international name of the country in various languages, ever since it was introduced by the Greeks some twenty-five centuries ago. In 1935, however, the nationalist administration under Reza Shah Pahlavi (see below) made a successful effort to replace ‘Persia’ with ‘Iran,’ apparently to underline the nation’s ‘Aryan’ pedigree to the international community. The latter term used to signify all branches of the Indo-European language family (and even the ‘race’ of their speakers), but was practically abandoned after World War II.
• ^ Lewis, Geoffrey (1984). “The naming of names”. British Society for Middle Eastern Studies Bulletin. 11 (2): 121–124. doi:10.1080/13530198408705394. ISSN 0305-6139.
• ^ Persia Archived 15 June 2022 at the Wayback Machine, Encyclopædia Britannica, “The term Persia was used for centuries … [because] use of the name was gradually extended by the ancient Greeks and other peoples to apply to the whole Iranian plateau.”
• ^ Jump up to:^a b “Your Gateway to Knowledge”. Knowledge Zone. Retrieved 3 April 2024.
• ^ “Fars Province, Iran”. Persia Advisor. Archived from the original on 2 May 2024. Retrieved 2 May 2024.
• ^ Foundation, Encyclopaedia Iranica. “Welcome to Encyclopaedia Iranica”. iranicaonline.org. Archived from the original on 10 April 2010. Retrieved 3 April 2024.
• ^ “Eight Thousand Years of History in Fars Province, Iran”. Research Gate. 12 May 2005. Retrieved 3 April 2024.
• ^ “From Cyrus to Alexander : a history of the Persian Empire | WorldCat.org”. search.worldcat.org. Archived from the original on 3 April 2024. Retrieved 3 April 2024.
• ^ Austin, Peter (2008). One Thousand Languages: Living, Endangered, and Lost. University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-25560-9.
• ^ Dandamaev, M. A. (1989). A Political History of the Achaemenid Empire. BRILL. ISBN 978-90-04-09172-6.
• ^ “Persia Changes Its Name; To Be ‘Iran’ From Mar. 22”. The New York Times. 1 January 1935. Archived from the original on 25 December 2018. Retrieved 26 December 2018.
• ^ “Persia or Iran, a brief history”. Art-arena.com. Archived from the original on 23 May 2013. Retrieved 21 June 2013.
• ^ Christoph Marcinkowski (2010). Shi’ite Identities: Community and Culture in Changing Social Contexts. LIT Verlag Münster. p. 83. ISBN 978-3-643-80049-7. Retrieved 21 June 2013. The ‘historical lands of Iran’ – ‘Greater Iran’ – were always known in the Persian language as Irānshahr or Irānzamīn.
• ^ Frye, Richard Nelson (October 1962). “Reitzenstein and Qumrân Revisited by an Iranian”. The Harvard Theological Review. 55 (4): 261–268. doi:10.1017/S0017816000007926. JSTOR 1508723. S2CID 162213219. I use the term Iran in an historical context […] Persia would be used for the modern state, more or less equivalent to “western Iran”. I use the term “Greater Iran” to mean what I suspect most Classicists and ancient historians really mean by their use of Persia – that which was within the political boundaries of States ruled by Iranians.
• ^ Richard Frye (2012). Persia (RLE Iran A). Routledge. p. 13. ISBN 978-1-136-84154-5. Retrieved 21 June 2013. This ‘greater Iran’ included and still includes part of the Caucasus Mountains, Central Asia, Afghanistan, and Iraq; for Kurds, Baluchis, Afghans, Tajiks, Ossetes, and other smaller groups are Iranians
• ^ Farrokh, Kaveh. Shadows in the Desert: Ancient Persia at War. ISBN 1-84603-108-7
• ^ “Iran”. Oxford Dictionaries. Archived from the original on 29 December 2016. Retrieved 7 February 2017.
• ^ “Iran”. Merriam-Webster. Archived from the original on 10 May 2017. Retrieved 7 February 2017.
• ^ “How do you say Iran?”. Voice of America. Archived from the original on 11 February 2017. Retrieved 7 February 2017.
• ^ People, “New evidence: modern civilization began in Iran”, 10 Aug 2007 Archived 24 February 2021 at the Wayback Machine, retrieved 1 October 2007
• ^ Azadpour, M. “HEGEL, GEORG WILHELM FRIEDRICH”. Encyclopædia Iranica. Archived from the original on 11 April 2015. Retrieved 11 April 2015.
• ^ https://www.britannica.com/ebc/article-9371723 Archived 2008-04-29 at the Wayback Machine Encyclopædia Britannica Concise Encyclopedia Article: Media
• ^ Baten, Jörg (2016). A History of the Global Economy. From 1500 to the Present. Cambridge University Press. p. 214. ISBN 978-1-107-50718-0.
• ^ R. M. Savory, “Safavids”, Encyclopedia of Islam, 2nd edition
• ^ “The Islamic World to 1600”, Applied History Research Group, University of Calgary, 1998 Archived 2008-06-12 at the Wayback Machine, retrieved 1 October 2007
• ^ Dowling, Timothy C. (2014). Russia at War: From the Mongol Conquest to Afghanistan, Chechnya, and Beyond. 2 volumes. ABC-CLIO. pp. 728–729. ISBN 978-1-59884-948-6.
• ^ “Iran Islamic Republic”, Archived 2006-03-16 at the Wayback Machine, Encyclopædia Britannica, retrieved 23 January 2008
• ^ “International relations / The Iranian revolution”. Encyclopædia Britannica. 23 January 2008. Archived from the original on 15 December 2007. Retrieved 26 September 2024. (subscription required)
• ^ “Ahmadinejad critic Larijani re-elected Iran speaker”. BBC News. 5 June 2012. Archived from the original on 10 May 2024. Retrieved 10 May 2024.
• ^ Borger, Julian; Dehghan, Saeed Kamali (19 September 2013). “Hassan Rouhani sets out his vision for a new and free Iran”. The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Archived from the original on 12 November 2023. Retrieved 10 May 2024.
• ^ Kutsch, Tom (14 July 2015). “Iran, world powers strike historic nuclear deal”. Aljazeera America. Archived from the original on 15 July 2015. Retrieved 15 July 2015.
• ^ Brewer, Eric (25 June 2024). “Iran’s New Nuclear Threat”. Foreign Affairs. ISSN 0015-7120. Retrieved 2 July 2024.
• ^ “U.S. killing of Iran’s second most powerful man risks regional conflagration”. Reuters. 4 January 2020. Archived from the original on 18 April 2024. Retrieved 7 May 2024.
• ^ Carolien Roelants, Iran expert of NRC Handelsblad, in a debate on Buitenhof on Dutch television, 5 January 2020.
• ^ Never-before-seen video of the attack on Al Asad Airbase, 28 February 2021, archived from the original on 23 February 2022, retrieved 8 January 2024
• ^ “109 US troops diagnosed with brain injuries from Iran attack”. Al Jazeera. Archived from the original on 7 April 2024. Retrieved 7 April 2024.
• ^ “Pentagon admits 109 brain injuries in Iran attack – DW – 02/10/2020”. dw.com. Archived from the original on 7 April 2024. Retrieved 7 April 2024.
• ^ Starr, Barbara (10 February 2020). “Over 100 US troops have been diagnosed with traumatic brain injuries following Iran strike | CNN Politics”. CNN. Archived from the original on 7 April 2024. Retrieved 7 April 2024.
• ^ Motamedi, Maziar. “Hardliner Raisi elected Iran’s new president”. Al Jazeera.
• ^ “Several killed in Israeli strike on Iranian consulate in Damascus”. Al Jazeera. Archived from the original on 30 April 2024. Retrieved 1 May 2024.
• ^ “Israeli strike on I