The recent Russia-Iran tension after Tehran summoned Russian ambassador over Moscow's comment on the disputed islands with the UAE, and the intelligence sharing blunder in Syria, has once again highlighted the limits of trust in bilateral relations.
This did not come as a surprise to experts, although there was much talk after Russia invaded Ukraine about the changing nature of the tactical alliance between Moscow and Tehran, which appears to have been deliberately fueled by both sides for propaganda purposes.
The main indicator that made talk about a sharp rapprochement between the two sides plausible was military cooperation, namely, massive deliveries of Shahed-131/136 kamikaze drones to Russian troops, operational training of Russian units by Iranian instructors in tactics of their use and even localization of production of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) on the territory of Russian Tatarstan.
To what extent is the factor of the drones really cementing the Russian-Iranian relationship?
