Iran and Russia in the Medvedev Era

In this highly informative article, Iran Diplomacy analyzes “Tehran and Moscow in Medvedev’s era”. The conclusions, listed below, are very interesting, in as far as they show that some elements in Iran are becoming concerned about Iran’s over reliance on Russia.

Amongst other things, the article concludes:

The conditions are now prepared for making changes in Iran-Russia relations. Therefore, we must allow for the following issues in future of bilateral ties:

1. Russia is not enough for Iran. Any attempt to expand ties with Russia must take relations with West into consideration.

2. In Medvedev’s age, Russia will move towards nationalism, since Medvedev has more nationalistic tendencies compared with Putin.

3. Medvedev is not after confrontation with the United States and the European Union. But if that happens for any reason, he may be ready to get closer to China, Iran and India.

4. In areas such as energy market (especially gas) and Middle East (Iraq and Lebanon) and the Muslim World, Russia tends to increase cooperation with Iran. Iran is also interested in expanding bilateral ties in areas such as defense aerospace technology, and regional collaboration in the Caspian Sea and Shanghai Pact.

5. It is likely that because of his professional background as Gazprom’s chairman, Medvedev shows interest in accessing Iran’s market.

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