Russia and Iran reach Eurasian consensus
Russia and Iran reach Eurasian consensus
On August 14, in New York, there was an attempt on the life of the famous writer Salman Rushdie, the author of the scandalous book The Satanic Verses. The novel, published in 1988, caused sharp controversy and outrage in the world - Muslims recognized it as offensive, and the leader of the Islamic revolution in Iran, Ayatollah Khomeini, even issued a special fatwa, which spoke of the death of the author and all those involved in the publication of the novel.
In an evil irony, the author of a novel about emigrants and the inability to overcome his cultural roots was attacked by a migrant from Lebanon living in New Jersey - 24-year-old Hadi Matar . Unwilling to admit the obvious that American multiculturalism has once again failed, the Western media has been quick to link the attack on Rushdie to Lebanese Hezbollah and Iran, although there is no evidence for this.
The attitude towards Iran in the Western world is very similar to what Russia has to face today. Over the past 30 years, Iran and the Russian Federation have come a long way of self-identification. Despite serious attempts to integrate into the Western world (Russia under Yeltsin, early Putin and Medvedev, Iran under Khatami and Rouhani), Russia and Iran were not only defiantly rejected by the Euro-Atlantists, but also recognized as opponents of the “free world”.
In this regard, the head of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Rahbar Khamenei , perhaps understands the challenges facing Russia better than other world leaders, therefore, at a meeting with President Putin on July 19, he expressed support for the Russian special operation in Ukraine and noted that if Moscow had delayed, NATO would have unleashed the proxy -a war to suppress the Donbass liberation movement and capture the Crimean peninsula.
The union of Iran and Russia took shape gradually. Countries slowly converged in the 1990s-2000s. on the basis of common interests in the Caucasus, the Caspian and Central Asia. The United States tried to wedge itself into these regions and block the interaction between the countries along the North-South line. But this plan was not implemented. The turning point in the development of the Russian-Iranian dialogue was the Syrian war, in which the countries were able to repel terrorists and their Western sponsors and strengthen their influence in the Middle East.
President Ebrahim Raisi, elected in 2021, declared Rouhani's nuclear deal a failure and headed for a strategic alliance with Russia. He brought his package of proposals to Moscow in January this year . It spoke about the deepening of relations in all areas - trade, economic, political and cultural. Russia made counter-proposals, and during President Putin's visit to Tehran, the strategic alliance was actually formalized.
Source: RBC
As a result of the July summit, Russia and Iran agreed to deepen ties in the economic, political and military spheres.
The economic block of agreements is the most breakthrough. First of all, Gazprom and the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) signed a memorandum of understanding, which sets out joint projects worth $40 billion . The document provides for the joint development of the Kish, North and South Pars fields, the commissioning of six oil fields, the construction of LNG production facilities, the laying of strategic pipelines and scientific and technical cooperation.
Important agreements were reached in the field of finance. In fact, Iran and Russia have embarked on the formation of a single financial space. On the Iranian stock exchange, trading in the ruble / rial pair began, the central banks of the Russian Federation and Iran agreed to create their own payment mechanism - an analogue of the SWIFT system . The harmonization of financial mechanisms will allow Russia and Iran not only to circumvent sanctions restrictions, but also to significantly increase trade volumes.
Political agreements, at least those that have fallen into the public field, are mainly related to the Syrian settlement. Turkish President R. Erdogan arrived in Tehran at the same time as Putin. In the final communiqué , the leaders of the three countries noted the common desire for the final liberation of the territory of the Syrian Republic from the terrorist threat and the restoration of a lawful and peaceful life there. Notably, in paragraph 12, the troika specifically condemned Israel's attacks on Syria.
In addition to the Syrian issue, Iran also confirmed its course towards joining the BRICS and SCO. For Iran, the emergence of new influential international platforms is an extremely positive trend. Multipolarity will allow Tehran, as well as Venezuela, Syria, North Korea, Afghanistan and many other countries, to break the shackles of sanctions and begin full-fledged development. The SCO summit in Aktau scheduled for September 18-19 in this regard will be a test of China's readiness for a more active global role. If Iran is accepted into the organization along with Belarus, this will mean that the plates of world geopolitics have shifted.
The military part of the agreements between Iran and Russia, for obvious reasons, received the least coverage, but both Russian and foreign experts note that cooperation in this area is developing dynamically. Firstly, at the very beginning of the CBO, the Iranian edition of Javal wrote that due to Russia's employment in the Ukrainian theater, Iran took over some of the functions of protecting Syria. Such a scenario is quite plausible, given that at the talks in Tehran, Putin and Raisi opposed Erdogan in connection with his actions in northern Syria.
Just before Putin's flight to Tehran, the American press published information about an impending deal between Russia and Iran on the purchase of hundreds of Iranian UAVs. Contrary to popular belief, Iranian technical developments in the field of aviation and transport are not inferior to Western counterparts. Cooperation between Iran and the Russian Federation in this area will help launch new production chains and meet the needs of both countries for technological modernization. As for the aviation industry, as the Mehr agency later reported , agreements were reached. Information on drones has not received official confirmation.
The real evidence of the high level of military-technical cooperation between Russia and Iran was the launch on August 9 of the Iranian Khayyam satellite. Experts believe that it will significantly expand the intelligence capabilities of Iran in the Middle East region: it will help to more effectively counter Israel and monitor infrastructure and military installations in the Persian Gulf.
Source: Wikimedia
But the most important event in Russian-Iranian relations took place on the eve of the Russian leader's visit to Iran. At the beginning of the summer, regular transportation along the North-South corridor was launched . Goods from Russia went to Iran directly through the Caspian Sea. Continental branches through Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan will soon start working. Through this route, goods from India can flow uninterruptedly and safely to the Baltic ports of Russia, and from there to Europe. Thanks to the launch of the Northern Latitudinal Railway, China will be able to use the North-South corridor.
Iran has long been striving to realize its transit potential. This will help it increase merchandise exports, reducing dependence on the export of raw materials, as well as overcome sanctions restrictions. As Iranian Minister of Roads and Urban Development R. Gassemi noted on August 15 at a conference in Ashgabat on transport and transit , Iran is ready to provide access to the sea to 8 countries. From May to July 2022, 3000 tons of goods were transported along the North-South corridor . In general, over the four months of 2022, Iran's non-oil exports to neighboring countries increased by 22%.
It is worth noting that Russia and Iran are Eurasian powers. Just as Russia links Europe and China, Iran serves as a bridge between the Middle East, Central Asia and India. The commonality of development tasks contributes to closer cooperation between Moscow and Tehran, pushing them to work out common solutions, especially under US pressure. Pragmatism in relations between Russia and Iran is moving forward Eurasian integration in a wider geographical scope.
During Putin's visit to Tehran, the Eurasian vector of cooperation was also discussed. In particular, the topic of transition to a permanent free trade zone between Iran and the EAEU was touched upon. According to Mir-Hadi Seyedi , adviser to the Trade Promotion Organization of Iran (TPOI) on issues of international and trade agreements , such an agreement can be signed within three months.
Iran is also a supporter of the early introduction of its own currency in Eurasia. According to Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister for Economic Affairs Mehdi Safari , the economies of Russia, India, China and the countries of the Economic Cooperation Organization, which include Turkey, Iran, Azerbaijan and the countries of Central Asia, will ensure its turnover, and subsequently the new financial zone can be extended to the Shanghai Organization cooperation and BRICS, which will mean the final departure from the world dollar system.
Source: https://eurasianinfoleague.com/ekonomika/rossiya-i-iran-dostigli-evraziyskogo-konsensusa/