Crescent International
Over the past few days a popular topic in the western media has harped on disagreement between Iran and Russia regarding the Zangezur corridor between Azerbaijan and its Nakhichevan province.
Zangezur is part of Armenia which separates mainland Azerbaijan Republic from Nakhichevan.
In 2023, Russia backed the Aliyev regime and ended the Moscow-initiated Armenian nationalist enclave in Karabakh.
Since then, Azerbaijan and Russia have pushed Armenia to allow Azerbaijan and Türkiye to use the Zangezur corridor as a logistical trade route.
Tehran is against this idea and views it through a geopolitical rather than a purely economic lens.
In Iran’s view the Russian suggestion grants Türkiye, a NATO member state, access to the Caucasus and Central Asia.
As Ankara has for decades been pushing Turkic nationalism on behalf of western regimes, Iran’s distrust is rational, specially after Türkiye’s destructive role in Syria and its close economic ties with Israel.
Some western analysts assume that Iran’s disagreement with Russia is an opportunity for the west to create a rift between Moscow and Tehran.
While this may sound as a plausible suggestion, it is wishful thinking.
Russia and Islamic Iran are mature enough to understand that their strategic cooperation against western imperialism does not mean that they will have a flawless relationship.
Does the US have a flawless relationship with apartheid Israel or the artificial state called the kingdom of Jordan? Of course not.
Western misreading of Russia and Iran relations fails to consider that after the 2022 events in Ukraine, the dynamic between Russia and Iran has changed.
Moscow can no longer afford to dictate to Tehran what the redlines are in the regions of the former Soviet Union.
Russian-NATO proxy war on the territory of Ukraine made it very costly for Russia to lose Iran’s backing.
Today, Russia needs Iran more than Iran needs Russia.
Iran is the only power committed to confronting western imperialism as a strategic policy principle.
While this does not necessarily mean that Iran will actively push for an increased role in the Caucasus or Central Asia, we may see Iran’s interests respected more.
For example, the two Moscow-backed regimes in Tajikistan and Azerbaijan have been in overdrive suppressing the Islamic movements there.
Tehran views these movements favorably, but Russia does not.
Moscow’s lack-lustre performance in its strategic standoff with western regimes revealed to those who viewed it through the prism of the Soviet Union that it is not a super-power many in West Asia had mistakenly assumed.
Iran and Russia both realize that their strategic economic and geopolitical cooperation stands to benefit them both.
There are simply no carrots western regimes can offer to Iran or Russia to disincentivize them from cooperation they have forged over several years.
Western regimes will not substitute Russian energy products with those from Iran and will not reign in apartheid Israel and western-backed dictators in acting against Iran’s strategic interests.
Western regimes have placed themselves in a catch-22 situation regarding Russia-Iran cooperation.
They have burned almost all their bridges with Moscow and Tehran, thus robbing themselves of incentives.
When they apply pressure, it only results in increased cooperation between Russia and Iran.
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