Come full East: Putin calls Iran deal a breakthrough
Russia and Iran signed a comprehensive strategic partnership pact, which has 47 articles on various fields ranging from security to tourism. In addition, Vladimir Putin and Masoud Pezeshkian held thorough negotiations in the Kremlin. Experts call this event historic, as the document will bring the countries' relations to another level, including in the field of security and economy. The parties agreed to implement projects in the nuclear and energy sectors. In the closed part of the talks, the leaders discussed international issues, in particular, the situation in Ukraine, Syria and the Middle East in general. The balance of power in this region can be maintained based on the provisions of the UN Charter, Vladimir Putin said, answering Izvestia's question.
Peculiarities of the agreement between Russia and Iran
Iranian President Massoud Pezeshkian arrived in Russia on January 17. He has been in charge of the country for about half a year - since July 2024, but this is already the third personal meeting with the head of the Russian Federation. The presidents met at the international forum in Ashgabat on October 11 and almost two weeks later at the BRICS summit in Kazan.
Before meeting with his Russian counterpart, Masoud Pezeshkian laid a wreath of scarlet roses and white lilies at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Alexander Garden, observed a minute of silence in memory of the fallen, and had time to talk to Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin.
- Your visit today is of special significance because we will not only have an opportunity and discuss all areas of our cooperation, but also sign a large basic treaty between Russia and Iran on comprehensive strategic partnership," Vladimir Putin said in the open part of the enlarged talks.
Putin recalled that Moscow and Tehran have been working on this document for a long time, it will give additional impetus to all areas of cooperation.
They started actively working on this agreement exactly three years ago, in January 2022, when the late President Ebrahim Raisi was in Moscow. Since then, the conclusion of the agreement has been postponed.
- And I am confident that today the signing of our big agreement, which covers all spheres of activity of the two countries, including culture, economy, humanitarian relations, will give a great impetus to the development of bilateral relations, and it will become a solid foundation for further movement forward," Masoud Pezeshkian emphasized.
The Comprehensive Strategic Partnership Treaty has 47 articles, which, as the Iranian Embassy in Moscow specified earlier, will define the countries' relations for at least the next 20 years. It covers many areas, including defense, counterterrorism, energy, finance, transportation, industry, agriculture, culture, science and technology.
- It sets ambitious goals and benchmarks for deepening bilateral cooperation for the long term in politics and security, trade and investment, and humanitarian areas. And this truly breakthrough document is aimed at creating the necessary conditions for the stable and sustainable development of Russia and Iran and our entire Eurasian region," Vladimir Putin said.
Russian-Iranian cooperation has been growing over the past three years.
- This will be the second most important historical document in Russian-Iranian relations since 2001, when the previous cooperation agreement was signed. The previous document was renewed every 10 years for the past two decades. That is, this decade is the first time since the beginning of the 21st century that we are signing such a large-scale treaty with Iran. It can probably be put on a par with the Strategic and Comprehensive Partnership Agreement with North Korea," said Middle East expert Artem Tkachev.
The document should bring relations between Russia and Iran to a new level: it will consolidate their status as strategic partners. Although six months ago there were fears that Tehran's relations with Moscow might deteriorate after the reformist Pezeshkian came to power.
- Pezeshkian came with the slogan of a multi-vector policy, that is, with a view to restoring Iran's ties with the West. Well, and preserving ties with the East. By the East is meant Russia, China and India. But the situation, of course, will be very difficult for Iran, especially after the inauguration of President Trump," said Vladimir Sazhin, a senior researcher at the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
It is known that Donald Trump has pursued a tough policy towards Iran during his presidential term. And if he continues to adhere to this course, it can generally greatly complicate the dialog between Iran and other Western countries.
Strengthening international security
The treaty signed between Russia and Iran contains a clause on strengthening cooperation in the field of security and defense. This is stated in the first article of the document. Moscow and Tehran confirmed their desire to develop military-technical cooperation. Russia and Iran also agreed on joint work of intelligence services to counter common threats.
Security issues were also an important aspect of the closed part of the talks between the two leaders. It is known that the sides touched upon the Middle East settlement in light of the agreement reached on cessation of hostilities in the Gaza Strip, which provides for the release of Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners.
Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip
The Russian president believes that now "an opportunity is opening up for a significant increase in the volume of food, fuel and medicines supplied to Gaza." The balance of power in the Middle East can be maintained based on the provisions of the UN Charter, Vladimir Putin said in response to a question from Izvestia correspondent Viktor Sineok.
- And not to try to use the norms of international law in some selfish interests, momentarily turning one or a group of states in a favorable direction, and not to replace the UN Charter with some rules, which, as I have said a thousand times, no one has seen," the president emphasized.
According to Putin, the main thing is "to return to the understanding of what the UN was created for, and to follow the principles that are set out in the Charter documents. The Iranian President also spoke out against the policy of double standards, Massoud Pezeshkian rejected the hypocrisy of some countries that "kill women and children" and at the same time tell other countries about the need to respect human rights.
The situation in Syria, where power has recently changed, was not overlooked. Russia remains committed to a comprehensive settlement based on respect for the sovereignty of the republic and its territorial integrity, Vladimir Putin said after the talks.
Damascus, Syria
He added that Russia is ready to "continue to provide the Syrian people with the necessary support in normalizing the situation, providing urgent humanitarian aid and launching a full-scale post-conflict reconstruction". At the same time, it is up to the Syrians themselves to determine the future of Syria.
The leaders also touched upon the Ukrainian crisis. "Engaging in hostilities and war is not a solution to the issues. We welcome the political settlement of the issue between Ukraine and Russia," the Iranian president said.
Moscow regularly informs Tehran about the current situation around the Ukrainian conflict, Vladimir Putin clarified. According to him, efforts in the international arena have been coordinated by the countries for a long time, it concerns the most acute issues that are on the agenda of the international community.
Economic cooperation between Moscow and Tehran
A special place in the document signed on Friday is given to the economy and energy sector. Iran expects that gas supplies from Russia will ensure its energy security and turn the Islamic republic into a hub. The parties have already agreed on the route of the gas pipeline through Azerbaijan, and negotiations are at the final stage of agreeing on the price of supplies, Russian Energy Minister Sergei Tsivilev said.
The Russian Federation may start with small volumes of gas supplies to Iran, but then reach 55 billion cubic meters, Vladimir Putin added.
The signed document will contribute to further development of trade and economic ties. In it, the countries agreed to develop payment infrastructure independent of third countries, moving to settlements in national currencies. Now their share exceeds 96%. In the first 10 months of last year, trade turnover growth amounted to 15.5%.
Finance Minister Anton Siluanov told Izvestia that the payment systems of Russia and Iran demonstrate stable operation, which means that there are no visible obstacles to increasing trade turnover, he added.
Russia and Iran will also continue to implement joint projects in the nuclear energy sector. We are talking about the Bushehr nuclear power plant, the most important project of Moscow and Tehran in southern Iran. Its construction began in 1975 by a West German concern, but was interrupted in 1979 after the outbreak of the Islamic Revolution. In September 2011, the first power unit was connected to the grid. Now the construction of the second and third power units is underway. Rosatom is confident that the project will be realized.
- It depends on a number of factors, including, first and foremost, rhythmic financing. We do not see any technical problems, since the VVER-1000 unit is as well known to us as a Kalashnikov assault rifle. We have built many such units in Russia, China and India," Alexei Likhachev, head of the state corporation, told Izvestia.
The first unit of the Bushehr nuclear power plant in Iran
Another important project is the creation of the North-South transportation corridor. Thanks to it, Iran will be able to strengthen its importance as one of the main transitors of goods and services between the EAEU countries and South Asia.
- As for the [North-South transport corridor], we are interested in it. This is an additional opportunity to promote our goods, both Iranian and Russian, to the world markets. Not only we are interested in this, but also those countries that are actively developing trade and economic ties with us. There are issues of technical nature, they are administrative, financial and organizational, but they are being solved," Vladimir Putin said.
As for humanitarian cooperation, tourist exchanges between the countries have increased by about 21%. This was facilitated by the introduction of visa-free regime for organized groups to Iran from the Russian Federation from 2023. Masoud Pezeshkian mentioned the elaboration of mutual abolition of visa regime between the countries.
