The Iranian and Russian defense ministers pledged on Friday to tighten ties following a security agreement reached between the two countries earlier in the week.
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu met his Iranian counterpart, Gharaei Ashtiani, on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization meeting in Kazakhstan. During the meeting, Shoigu said that Iran has become “particularly trusting,” citing their cooperation in Syria, the state-owned RIA news agency reported.
“The intensity of contacts has increased manifold, both at the highest level and at the level of the leadership of military departments,” said Shoigu.
Russia and Iran both support the government of President Bashar al-Assad in the Syrian civil war, and Tehran has exported its drone technology to Moscow amid its war against Ukraine.
Shoigu added that Russia is ready to boost military and technical cooperation with Iran and Ashtiani said, “Our relations are only deepening and expanding, reaching a new level,” RIA reported.
On Wednesday, the secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, Ali Akbar Ahmadian, met his Russian counterpart, Nikolai Patrushev, in St. Petersburg. The two signed a memorandum of understanding on unspecified security matters, Iran’s semi-official Mehr news agency and Press TV reported.
Ahmadian was also scheduled to meet with representatives of BRICS countries in St. Petersburg. On Thursday, the group held a meeting in Moscow on developments in the Middle East and North Africa, the official Islamic Republic News Agency reported.
Iran joined BRICS in January. The geopolitical bloc originally consisted of Brazil, Russia, India and China before expanding to include South Africa and other states.
Why it matters: Russia and Iran have pursued mutual interests for decades, but cooperation has increased in the past year. Iran became further aligned with Russia as well as China last July when it joined the SCO, which is a political and economic cooperation organization that includes Russia, China, Iran and several Central Asian states.
In December, Iran said it finalized an agreement with Russia to remove the US dollar from bilateral trade. The two countries hope the long-awaited agreement will help their struggling economies and alleviate the effects of Western sanctions, Al-Monitor’s correspondent in Tehran reported at the time. Russia and Iran are cut off from several international banking systems due to Western sanctions.
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said on Thursday that Moscow would welcome Syria joining BRICS, the official TASS news agency reported.
