Lavrov backs Tehran, but does Russia also gain from the US-Iran crisis?

Moscow pledges support to its sanctioned ally, but analysts say the war that Iran wants to end has filled Russia’s coffers. Save Share Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov pledged Moscow’s support for Iran when he met his counterpart, Abbas Araghchi, and President Masoud Pezeshkian in Tehran on Monday. On Tuesday, Araghchi wrote on X: “Never in our history haveIran and Russiaworked as closely as now.” But Russia’s position is not straightforward. The war on Iran, launched by the United States and Israel on February 28, has pushed up oil prices and handed Moscow a windfall. Washington has now alsoeased sanctionson Russian energy to bring down fuel costs – a major complaint from consumers in the US, who will shortly vote in mid-term elections. So how close are Moscow and Tehran, and does Russia really want the US-Iran crisis to end? Here’s what you need to know: To shore up a wartime partnership, and to shape what happens next. Nader Hashemi, an associate professor of Middle East politics at Georgetown University, told Al Jazeera that with both countries fighting wars, Lavrov’s “primary motive is to solidify that alliance”. He said the aim is to advance each side’s war goals: “Russia against Ukraine, Iran against the United States.” But Hashemi said the main reason is that the US-Israeli attack has left the Middle East regional order unravelling, and Moscow wants a say in what replaces it. “I suspect there’s a longer-term agenda here,” he said. They have a strategic partnership, though their treaty stops short of a military alliance. Putin and Pezeshkian signed a 20-year Comprehensive Strategic Partnership Treaty in Moscow in January 2025. It came into force that October, but unlike Russia’s pact with North Korea, it has no mutual defence clause. Ties deepened after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, with Iran sharing Shahed drone technology that enabled Russia to build its own version. In 2024, Washington accused Tehran of also sending Russia ballistic missiles. In Tehran, Lavrov said Russian specialists who had left Iran’s Bushehr nuclear power plant –heavily damaged in US strikes– would gradually return. Other countries are aware of the closeness of their relationship....