Russia, Iran deepen defense ties as Putin and Pezeshkian sign 20-year pact

While agreement doesn’t specify arms transfers between the two sanctioned countries, Putin offers aid to Tehran’s nuclear program as he and Pezeshkian express hope for a Gaza truce

Russian President Vladimir Putin, left, and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian pose for a photo during their meeting at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, January 17, 2025. (Vyacheslav Prokofyev, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)
Russian President Vladimir Putin, left, and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian pose for a photo during their meeting at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, January 17, 2025. (Vyacheslav Prokofyev, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)

Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Iranian counterpart Masoud Pezeshkian deepened military ties between their countries on Friday by signing a 20-year strategic partnership that is likely to worry the West.

Though the agreement, which can be extended, does not specify arms transfers between the two countries, Putin said Moscow was willing to undertake more nuclear projects on behalf of Iran.

At their joint press conference in Moscow, the two leaders, whose countries are subject to heavy Western sanctions, also expressed hope for the success of the Israel-Hamas ceasefire deal.

Moscow’s new agreement with Tehran comes three days before the inauguration of US President-elect Donald Trump, who is expected to resume his first term’s “maximum pressure” policy toward Iran, and to pursue a political settlement to Russia’s three-year-old war in Ukraine, which triggered the Western sanctions on Moscow.

However, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov dismissed any link between the agreement and Trump’s inauguration, saying that Pezeshkian’s visit had been planned long ago.

The agreement also came as Iran and Russia’s influence in the Middle East appeared to be waning after the fall of their client, Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad, who fled to Moscow when rebels overtook Damascus last month. Following Assad’s fall, the fate of two major Russian military facilities in Syria remains uncertain.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, center left, and Russian President Vladimir Putin, center right, arrive to attend a signing ceremony following their talks at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, January 17, 2025. (Vyacheslav Prokofyev, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)

Speaking alongside Pezeshkian, Putin said Russia regularly consults with Iran on events in the Middle East and the South Caucasus region and kept Iran updated about the Ukraine conflict.

Under their new agreement, Russia and Iran will boost cooperation in a range of areas including their security services, military drills, warship port visits, and joint officer training.

Neither will allow their territory to be used for any action that threatens the other and will provide no help to an aggressor attacking either nation, according to the text, which also said they would work together to counter military threats.

Ukrainian air defense intercepts an Iranian-made ‘Shahed’ drone mid-air in in Kyiv, Ukraine, May 30, 2023. (Evgeniy Maloletka/AP)

The agreement did not include a mutual defense clause of the kind included in a treaty between Russia and North Korea, which the West says has seen North Korean troops deployed to fight in Ukraine, something Moscow has neither confirmed nor denied.

Vague on arms transfers, but boost to Iran’s nuclear aspirations

The agreement made no specific mention of arms transfers, a topic of particular concern to the US and its allies, though the two sides said they would develop “military-technical cooperation.”

Iran has already supplied Russia with self-detonating “Shahed” drones that Moscow fires on Ukraine in nightly barrages, according to Ukrainian and Western officials.

Iran, in turn, wants sophisticated Russian weapons like long-range air defense systems and fighter jets to help fend off possible attacks by Israel. Russia has supplied Iran with S-300 air defense missile systems in the past, and there have been reports in Iranian media of potential interest in buying more advanced systems such as the S-400 and acquiring advanced Russian fighter jets.

Tehran has long hoped to obtain advanced Sukhoi Su-35 fighter jets from Russia to upgrade its aging fleet that’s been hobbled by international sanctions, but only received a few Yak-130 trainer jets in 2023.

However, speaking alongside Pezeshkian Friday, Putin said his country was open to taking on more nuclear projects in Iran despite delays in building new nuclear reactors there.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, right, and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian attend a signing ceremony at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, January 17, 2025. (Evgenia Novozhenina/Pool Photo via AP)

Russia built Iran’s first nuclear plant that was launched in 2013 and is building two more nuclear reactors there.

The Islamic Republic’s nuclear weapons program was reportedly dealt a serious blow when Israel struck Iran on October 26, in retaliation for the Iranian missile barrage that drove millions of Israelis into bomb shelters on October 1.

Russia had been part of the 2015 deal between Iran and six nuclear powers offering sanctions relief for Tehran in exchange for curbing its atomic program, and the Kremlin offered political support to Iran when the US unilaterally withdrew from the agreement during Trump’s first term.

Iran has repeatedly expressed willingness to revive the deal.

The Islamic regime maintains that its nuclear program is solely for peaceful purposes and denies any intention to develop atomic weapons.

Centrifuges line a hall at the Uranium Enrichment Facility in Natanz, Iran, in a still image from a video aired by the Islamic Republic Iran Broadcasting Company on April 17, 2021, six days after the hall had been damaged in a mysterious attack. (IRIB via AP)

Notwithstanding, Iran has in recent years increased its manufacturing of enriched uranium, and it is the only non-nuclear weapons state to possess uranium enriched to 60 percent, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) nuclear watchdog says.

That level is well on the way to the 90% required for an atomic bomb and beyond anything needed for a civilian nuclear program.

Iran, which is openly committed to Israel’s destruction, also operates an “Axis of Resistance” network of regional proxies — including Gaza’s Hamas, Lebanon’s Hezbollah and Yemen’s Houthis — in pursuit of that goal.

Amid the nascent agreement for a hostage-ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, Putin expressed hope Friday for a “long-term stabilization” in Gaza. He called for the world not to “weaken efforts for a comprehensive settlement of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict on the basis of international law” and the creation of an independent Palestinian state.

Pezeshkian, whose country fired two massive missile and drone barrages at Israel during the war, said he hoped a “permanent ceasefire will be established in Gaza and the aggressions on this land will end.”

Most Popular
read more: