Mehdi Khorsand, speaking in an interview with the website of the Strategic Council on Foreign Relations, stated that Russia is in a situation where, as the first player critical of the current international order, has been attacked and militarized by the West with a tool called NATO. Therefore, Russia has very special conditions and on the other hand, this situation requires countries that are almost convergent in the position of criticizing the current international order to come to each other’s help.

Khorsand emphasized: “It is in such a situation that despite the fact that the Islamic Republic of Iran has always criticized the war in Ukraine and declared that it is against the war, it understands Russia’s concern over the expansion of NATO to the East and has also emphasized that the expansion of NATO to the East is one of the concerns of the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Pointing out that due to the speed of international developments, the cooperation of countries has less opportunity to become strategic, he added: The reason for this is that international players at the scene of international relations act based on their own interests, and this is the interests of countries and international players that put them as partners at one point of time and maybe at another point of time in some cases they even face a conflict of interest.

He continued: Therefore, it is a bit difficult to talk about the strategic relations of countries and the strategic nature of interests in the current era of international order transition.

According to the expert on Caucasus affairs, Iran and Russia are no exception to this rule.

Khorsand explained: What has led to the expansion and closeness of Tehran-Moscow relations today is primarily Russia’s interest in using the experiences and achievements that the Islamic Republic of Iran has gained in dealing with the sanctions over the past 40 years.

He emphasized that considering Russia’s geopolitical conditions in its surrounding area, Iran’s geography, and geopolitics is almost the only way for Russia to access world markets.

The expert on Russian affairs explained Russia’s need for Iran at this juncture and said: Moscow today sees its path in the West almost blocked due to the war with Ukraine, and therefore Russia’s communication path with the world is limited to the geography of Iran and the southern path of Russia. On the other hand, the performance of the Russian military forces in the Ukraine war has caused the Russians to think about supplying Iran with conventional military equipment in the field of drones.

Although this matter was denied by Iran, in the past days it had caused concern for the United States and the Zionist regime regarding the closeness of the relations between Tehran and Moscow.

In addition, regarding other reasons for the close relations between Tehran and Moscow, he mentioned Russia’s use of the anti-sanction capacities of Iran’s economy.

Khorsand stated that during the past 40 years, Russia has never had such a close relationship with Iran and that it was almost a player that contacted Iran based on its interests, and said: But the kind of cooperation Iran has with Russia shows the superior thinking of the Islamic Republic of Iran towards players who act against the unipolar system and the US hegemony in the scene of international relations. At the same time, the capacity of all the countries that are critical of this unipolar system should be gathered and individual action should be prevented.

Khorsand finally emphasized that the type of relations between Tehran and Russia may shape a new form and level of relations between independent international players in the transition period of the existing world order and lay the groundwork for giving identity to the relations and interactions of the emerging powers of the world, both at the regional and international levels, adding: In the past 40 years, Iran has shown a clear and consistent logic of its foreign policy in the world, which, case by case, has brought almost the whole world to the conclusion that stability of Iran’s steps in the inviolable principles of its foreign policy has led to the authority of our country in the discourse, military, political and economic fields.