Nikolay Kozhanov: 'there is a deep transition in the Russia’s vision of the Middle East and Iran'

Nikolay Kozhanov, a visiting lecturer in Political Economy of the Middle East at the European University in St Petersburg, a senior lecturer in Political Economy and Economic Security at the St Petersburg State University, a contributing expert to the Moscow-based Institute of the Middle East and ...

Yulia Sveshnikova: ‘I would not call the ties between Moscow and Riyadh cordial, neither Moscow’s relationship with Tehran’

Yulia Sveshnikova, research fellow at the National Research University “Higher School of Economics” and consultant at Russian Center for Political Studies (PIR Center), sat down with IRAS some days ago for an interview about different aspects of Iran-Russia bilateral and regional ties....

Rasoul Mousavi: ‘Turkey realized that the collapse of Syria would be at the expense of Turkish territorial integrity and national security’

Iran and Turkey share a long border, and relations between them have known ups and downs in the decades since the Islamic Revolution. Tension arose between the two countries before the rise to power of Erdogan and the Justice and Development Party, both because of Turkey’s membership in NATO ...

Hassan Beheshtipour: ‘Central Asia is not the top priority for Iran’

Iran has, for the past 25 years, sought to build its relations with Central Asia and has often cited its historical connection as a basis for developing relations. Perhaps, more pressing for the Islamic Republic, however, has been the desire to capitalize on relationships that do not have the historical ...

Mahmoud Shoori: ‘For Russians, it is important that they do not define themselves against Saudi Arabia’

Mahmoud Shoori, head of Eurasia Program at Center for Strategic Research (CSR) and senior fellow at IRAS sat down with IRAS for an interview about the growing tensions between Saudi Arabia and Qatar and What role Iran and Russia could take to settle down the tensions in the Persian Gulf. This interview ...

Ali Shamkhani: 'Iran-Russia-Syria-Iraq-Hezbollah co-op has changed political equations in the Syria Crisis'

Rear Admiral Ali Shamkhani, secretary of the Supreme National Security Council of Iran, sat down with IRAS for an exclusive interview about Iran’s cooperating with Russia. This interview has been edited for clarity.     In the past two years and in particular after the sanction ...

Nozar Shafeei: 'What has brought Russia, China, Pakistan and Iran close to each other is the US- ISIS axis not Taliban'

  Nozar Shafeei, university professor and former member of national security and foreign policy committee in Iran's Parliament (Majlis), sat down one week ago with IRAS for an interview about the Afghanistan developments and Russia's initiative on Afghan's Peace process. This interview ...

Mohsen Pakaeen: 'Azerbaijan has realized the advantages of regional cooperation with Iran and Russia, and will follow the same path during the Trump presidency'

  H.E. Mr. Mohsen Pakaeen, Former Ambassador of the Islamic Republic of Iran to the Republic of Azerbaijan, sat down one week ago with IRAS for a lengthy interview about the Iran-Azerbaijan relations. This interview has been edited for clarity.     The Iranian-Azerbaijani relations ...

Esfandiar Omidbakhsh: 'If Iran's political relations with Russia had not been to the current level, there would never be discussions on FTA with the EEU'

  On 17 June 2016, Russian President Vladimir Putin put forward a proposal to create a more extensive Eurasian partnership on the basis of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) that would involve China, India, Pakistan, Iran and a number of Community of Independent States (CIS) countries among others ...

Mahmoud Shoori: ‘It is not Russia that defines the Iran’s role in Syria’

  Mahmoud Shoori, head of Eurasia Program at Center for Strategic Research (CSR) and senior fellow at IRAS, sat down some days ago with IRAS for a lengthy interview about recent developments in the Russian-Turkish cooperation for the Syrian crisis. This interview has been edited for clarity.  ...

Vali Kaleji: 'Armenian-Iranian relations could set a good example for the world on how Muslim and Christian countries can reach peaceful symbiosis living side by side'

Vali Kaleji, senior fellow at IRAS, sat down a week ago with Tert News Agency for a brief interview about  the importance of the President Rouhani's  upcoming official trip to Armenia and what role Iran could take to resolve the regional conflicts. This interview has been edited for ...

Roman Grishenin: 'We can forget some dogma when it comes to increasing our relations'

  Russia’s foreign policy can be roughly divided into two unequal periods. The first one, from the Soviet Union’s break-up to around 2007, was characterized by a desire to integrate into the existing international institutions and receive a worthy place at the tables where decisions ...

Mahmoud Shoori: The Decision to improve Relations with Russia Is a Strategic Choice for Post-JCPOA Iran

Many argue that Iranian-Russian cooperation in Syria is purely opportunistic, based on short-term interests that temporarily overshadow equally prominent differences. While this could be true, the alliance is nonetheless underpinned by some deep-seated commonalities in their wider vision of international ...

Jahangir Karami: ‘Neither contemporary Iran nor post-Soviet Russia is similar to their past history’

Over the past year, Russia and Iran have entered a new phase of military cooperation unprecedented in their relations since the end of World War II. As a result of Russian intervention in Syria, their armed forces are planning operations and fighting together in support of Bashar al-Assad’s ...

Mark N. Katz: ‘From Moscow’s perspective, Iran needs Russia more than Russia needs Iran’

Russian bombers flying from an Iran’s Nojeh air base struck targets across Syria on Tuesday, August 16, dramatically underscoring the two countries’ growing military ties and highlighting Russia’s strategy for greater influence in the volatile Middle East. We asked Mark N. Katz, ...

Alexey Khlebnikov: Russia and Iran have close cooperation on Syria, but there are certain differences in Russia’s and Iran’s approaches to the crisis

Analysts largely agree that Russia's entry into the Syrian civil war on behalf of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has not yet turned the tide of the war in Assad's favor. But in the nearly ten months since Russia launched its air campaign there to bolster pro-Assad forces, Russia has slowly ...

Levan Dzhagaryan: ‘Russia has close coordination with the U.S. on the Syria Crisis’

H.E. Mr. Levan Dzhagaryan, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Russian Federation to the Islamic Republic of Iran, sat down a week ago with IRAS for an interview about Russia’s bilateral and regional cooperation with Iran after the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). ...

Nematollah Izadi: 'We cannot have strategic relations with Russia, because our objectives sometimes are in conflict'

Since the return of Vladimir Putin to the Russian president’s office in 2012, Russian-Iranian relations have experienced a significant change of course in contrast to the substantial cooling of the bilateral dialogue during the last two years of Dmitry Medvedev’s presidency. Unexpected ...

Jahangir Karami: ‘Russia and Iran share a common approach to the conflict in Syria – to maintain the country’s territorial integrity and not let the terrorists come to power’

Russia and Iran share common interests and goals in the Middle East, such as bringing stability to the region, fighting terrorism and supporting Syria's sovereignty. This makes the relationship between the two countries important for the entire region, which has been experiencing years of turmoil ...

Gholamreza Shafei: 'Iranian pessimism towards Russia is one of the reasons hindering further economic cooperation'

As the Russia-Iran alliance in Syria has emerged, opinion pieces and analyses increasingly appear in the Western media arguing that this partnership will not survive in the long term. Some experts argue that there is a history of distrust between the two countries dating back to the 19th century when ...