Presidents of Iran and Russia Tout Growing Ties

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Russian President Vladimir Putin and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian touted growing ties between the two countries on October 11 as they met in person for the first time in person in Turkmenistan.

“Economically and culturally, our communications are being strengthened day by day and becoming more robust,” Pezeshkian told Putin, according to Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency. Pezeshkian added, “Our positions in the world are much closer to each other than to others,” citing areas of cooperation between the two heavily sanctioned countries.

“We are actively working together on the international arena and our assessments of current events in the world are often very close,” Putin told Pezeshkian, according to Russia’s state-run TASS News Agency.

As Russia has grown increasingly isolated from the West over its aggression against Ukraine, Putin has sought to foster a multipolar world order and establish closer ties with nations in the global East, such as China, Iran, and North Korea. He has also worked to promote the BRICS organization, which touts itself as an alternative to perceived Western-dominated institutions such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. Pezeshkian accepted Putin’s invitation to visit Russia later this month for the summit of BRICS nations scheduled to be held in Kazan between October 22-24.

Putin and Pezeshkian also discussed the conflict in the Middle East. Pezeshkian called Israel’s operation in Lebanon “savage attacks” that were “beyond description.” According to TASS, Pezeshkian said that “European countries and the United States don’t want relations between countries [in the Middle East] to develop peacefully.”

Expert Analysis

“Sometimes a picture really is worth a thousand words. The recent Putin-Pezeshkian meeting — and the one to come at the BRICS summit later this October — should highlight for the West why a counter-Russia policy without a counter-Iran element is destined to fail. As Russia and Iran tighten their political, economic, and military ties, the West must take at face value the desires of the regimes ruling Moscow and Tehran to overturn the American order and the balance of power in their respective regions.” — Behnam Ben Taleblu, FDD Senior Fellow

“The bloodshed in Syria, where Moscow backed the Syrian regime in lockstep with its Iranian ally, symbolizes the impact on the Middle East of a resurgent Russia. The world has already paid far too high a price for Putin’s sorrow at the collapse of the Soviet Union. Left unchecked, he will want to ensure that the price we will continue to pay is even higher.” — Ben Cohen, FDD Senior Analyst and Rapid Response Manager

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