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Opinion
June 8, 2018 www.intellinews.com I Page 22
COMMENT: Russia and Iran: Friends and silent foes
Emil Avdaliani in Tbilisi
Iran and Russia have historically been wary of each other’s geopolitical ambitions. Presently, their competing aims hamper their partnership from evolving into a full-scale alliance, but the two powers do have a number of converging interests in the Middle East and the South Caucasus. Now, with both Moscow and Tehran facing US sanc- tions, the development of their relationship will be intriguing.
One theatre of Russo-Iranian cooperation is Syria. Both Russia and Iran are interested in stopping western (primarily American) influence gain-
ing much of a foothold in the country. But, as is typical, real differences between war-time allies start to emerge only after the main hostilities are over. From time to time there have been pointers in the media on various disagreements that have broken out between Russia and Iran on the meth- ods, aims and results of the war in Syria. Iran has almost solidified its land reach to the Mediterra- nean via Syria and Moscow could well be worried that a strong Iran would be less susceptible to following the Russian lead. Russia’s eventual level of willingness to listen to Israel when it comes to containing Iran in Syria could well attune to its own objectives.
Further north, another theatre of cooperation is the nascent North-South transit corridor between Iran and Russia, which passes through Azerbai- jan. The three countries are already somewhat connected via rail links and there is the notion that Russia’s Baltic ports and the Persian Gulf
Mutual opposition to US ambitions in the Middle East have forged a Moscow- Tehran bond. Presidents Putin and Rouhani have met several times in the past few years.
could one day enjoy efficient connections. Tehran and Moscow see Azerbaijan as a vital component in advancing North-South trade and energy cor- ridors in the South Caucasus. Such corridors rival the West-East ones promoted by Western coun- tries and perhaps also the East-West Belt and Road initiative backed by China.
But Moscow’s hesitancy in firming relations with Iran is seen in how slowly it is welcoming the Iranians into the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) trade bloc, which currently lists Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Armenia as its mem- bers. In mid-May, it was announced that the Mos- cow-led EEU and Iran have signed an interim free trade agreement (FTA). The Islamic Republic has never managed to conclude an FTA with another country or economic bloc since it was founded in 1979. So such a deal is now tantalisingly close, but could still be a two or more years away.
Russia is also supporting Iran's plans to join the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO). Also known as the Shanghai Pact, the SCO is a Eura- sian political, economic, and military organisation founded in 2001 in Shanghai by China, Kazakh- stan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, and Uzbeki- stan. India and Pakistan were admitted as full members in 2015. Iran has had observer nation status since 2005. The matter was brought up in March last year when Iranian President Hassan Rouhani paid his first official visit to the Kremlin, an occasion that prompted his counterpart Vladimir Putin to praise Iran as a “good neighbour”.