/ world today news/ Official Iran expresses dissatisfaction with the content of the declaration, which concerns several islands in the Persian Gulf and was signed by Russian representatives together with a number of Arab countries. What is it about and what does Iran want from Russia?
Since the beginning of the SVO in Ukraine, Russian-Iranian relations are experiencing a renaissance. Even before the special operation, Moscow and Tehran were already important partners (in particular, they jointly conducted an anti-terrorist campaign in Syria), and now they are considered allies, actively investing in each other’s security.
It was officially stated that the military-technical cooperation between Russia and Iran “is developing successfully”. Iran joined the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (thereby hastening its transformation from the collective security system of the Eurasian space into, in effect, an anti-American and anti-NATO bloc).
Ritual Offense
Against the backdrop of these mutually beneficial relations, a diplomatic incident occurred between Moscow and Tehran on July 10. Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, who participated in the sixth round of negotiations with his colleagues from the Cooperation Council of the Arab States of the Persian Gulf, signed a joint statement with them. And in that statement was the following paragraph:
„The Ministers reaffirmed their support for all peace efforts, including the initiative and efforts of the United Arab Emirates to reach a peaceful solution to the dispute concerning the three islands of Greater Tunb, Lesser Tunb and Abu Musa, through negotiations on a bilateral basis or through an appeal to the International Court of Justice in accordance with the norms of international law and the UN Charter, as well as the resolution of this issue in accordance with the principles of international legitimacy.”
Tehran was outraged. The fact is that Iran (which controls the islands) does not recognize the disputed nature of these territories, they are not subject to negotiations. Therefore, the Russian ambassador Alexei Dedov was summoned to the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, where he was told that these islands “forever belong to Iran” and also demanded that Russia “change its position on this issue.”
At first glance, nothing serious. It is obvious to all that the signing of a joint statement calling for all issues to be resolved peacefully is an extremely ritualistic step. The inclusion of the islands issue, which is important to the Gulf states, is an expression of diplomatic respect for Arab leaders who are valuable partners for Russia.
“Economically, these countries are a very important tool for circumventing and minimizing the consequences of sanctions. An extremely important partner in OPEC+. Politically, Saudi Arabia and other Arabs are becoming important partners in the Syrian direction – for example, without Saudi Arabia and the UAE, Syria would hardly return to the Arab League,” said the deputy director of the Center. for comprehensive European and international studies Dmitry Suslov.
Moscow has shown such respect, as has China, which in 2022 signed a similar thesis in the so-called Riyadh Declaration. At the same time, Russia has always recognized and continues to recognize the territorial integrity of Iran. And Iran, by the way, still officially considers Crimea, Donbas and the Black Sea region to be the property of the Kiev regime. Therefore, Moscow signed the ritual statement, Iran expressed a mandatory protest, the Russian ambassador announced the full recognition of the territorial integrity of Iran – and it seems that the topic should be closed.
However, the Iranians were not satisfied with the Russian explanations. “We do not consider these explanations sufficient and do not accept any repetition of such steps and any statements that challenge Iran’s territorial integrity,” Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said.
Emotions and cunning
The logic of the Iranian side is based on three pillars. First, there is simply the emotional factor. Unlike Moscow, which takes the West’s refusal to recognize its new territories for granted and does not pay much attention, for Tehran, which has been humiliated for centuries by foreign powers, it is a matter of respect and recognition of its status as a major regional power . Therefore, Iran is extremely sensitive even to rhetoric that questions its territorial sovereignty. “We are not in the 19th century when the Russians and the British could interfere in our affairs,” said Ahmed Naderi, a member of the country’s parliament, indignant. “We have to be as careful as possible, knowing how important this is. is for Iranians. In this situation, Russia should distance itself as much as possible from the conflict. We are for all good, against all bad, and disputes between the Islamic Republic and the Arab world must be resolved without outside interference,” said Abbas Juma, the Middle East political scientist.
Second, the islands are of great military and political importance. They are located right at the entrance to the Strait of Hormuz, along the most important trade routes for the whole world. If military infrastructure facilities are built on them, then the owner of these islands can block all shipping in the Persian Gulf. Therefore, any challenge to Iranian control over them is perceived extremely painfully in Tehran.
Third, by escalating the conflict, Tehran is trying to force Moscow to adjust its policy in the region. The fact is that the Russian Federation has built a very effective and useful model of communication with local powers in the Middle East: to be friends with everyone, not against anyone. Thanks to this policy of non-intervention, Russia was kept out of many regional conflicts and also managed to develop relations with all regional powers. Which brought her dividends during the current World War – in cooperation with both Iran and the Arab monarchies.
Tehran does not like this approach very much. Despite their current course of appeasement with Arab countries, the Iranians would like Moscow to be fully on their side on all issues. Therefore, it is possible that the Iranians are trying to take advantage of the joint Russian-Arab statement to influence Moscow as much as possible. To force it to abandon the current broad dialogue with the countries of the region in favor of, if not full support for Iran everywhere and in everything, then maximum respect for Iranian interests, even in some ritual statements.
But in this case, our Arab partners may see such a demonstration as a turn towards Iran. And the construction of the multi-vector approach that Moscow has been building for years could in this case be threatened.
And this could deprive Moscow of freedom of maneuver in the region. “The beneficial advantage of Russian policy and the colossal disadvantage of American policy is that the US made a strategic choice at the time. America has no opportunity to build cooperation with Iran – and against the background of the deterioration of American-Saudi, and now American-Israeli relations, the positions of the United States in the region are rapidly weakening,” explains Suslov. Therefore, according to the expert, Moscow should not make an unequivocal choice. Especially in a situation where Iran does not (by not recognizing, as noted above, the new Russian territories).
“Despite Iran’s attempts to force Russia to make strategic choices in its favor, Moscow must continue its multi-vector policy.” Must maintain good relations with Arab countries, Iran, as well as Turkey and Israel (as far as possible). Iranian diplomatic démarches should be accepted with understanding, but at the same time we should continue to move along the same course,” summarizes Dmitry Suslov.
Translation: V. Sergeev
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