Iran and Russia are finalizing a strategic partnership agreement that will enhance their defensive cooperation and military ties at a time of growing Western concerns about regional conflicts in Europe and the Middle East.
“The treaty on a comprehensive strategic partnership between Russia and Iran that is being prepared will become a serious factor in strengthening Russian-Iranian relations,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov stated on Thursday, as reported by Reuters.
The foreign minister, who indicated the treaty would be signed “in the near future,” asserted that the deal will “confirm” both Iran and Russia’s “interests of peace and security at the regional and global levels.”
Details of the treaty remain undisclosed, and Lavrov refrained from elaborating on the specific form this defensive partnership will take.
A similar agreement signed between North Korea and Russia earlier this year was followed by Pyongyang’s decision to dispatch approximately 10,000 soldiers to its neighboring country embroiled in war, potentially for deployment in Ukraine, raising concerns expressed by the Pentagon.
However, given Iran’s existing provision of defensive aid to Russia in its ongoing war in Ukraine, it is not only the potential ramifications for the European conflict that worry Western security officials.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, who once enjoyed a robust relationship with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, has not appeared actively involved in the unfolding conflict in the Middle East, unlike Russia’s primary adversary, the United States.
But a report by the Wall Street Journal earlier this month revealed that Moscow has been providing the Iranian regime with intelligence to support its repeated attacks on Western vessels in the Red Sea. According to the report, this information was transmitted from Russia to “members of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC)… .”
Russia has also increasingly urged Israel to exercise “restraint” concerning escalating tensions in the Middle East, amidst Israel’s incursion into Lebanon and attacks on Iran – which directly funds and arms terrorist organizations, including Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis, engaged in conflict with Jerusalem.
Tehran has once again threatened Jerusalem with retaliatory strikes after Israel launched recent airstrikes on Iranian facilities in Syria. This series of retaliatory attacks persists as Israel endeavors to eliminate Hamas in the Gaza Strip and Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi, chief of the general staff of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), on Tuesday responded to these threats, stating, “If Iran makes the mistake of launching another missile barrage at Israel, we will once again know how to reach Iran.”
Halevi warned that Israel will continue to escalate its attack “capabilities and locations” previously “set aside” if Iran retaliates with another strike on the Jewish state.
“We did this for a very simple reason, because we may be required to [strike] again. This event is not over, we are still in the midst of it,” he said while speaking from the Ramon Airbase in Israel. “I say this to you: we are highly prepared across all fronts.”