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Russia and Iran Have a Troubled History Despite their Current Alliance

FILE - In this photo released by the Tasnim News Agency, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard troops travel in a plane from Rasht in northern Iran, to Kermanshah in western Iran, during a drill on Jan. 5, 2025. (Hossein Zohrevand/Tasnim News Agency via AP, File)
FILE - In this photo released by the Tasnim News Agency, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard troops travel in a plane from Rasht in northern Iran, to Kermanshah in western Iran, during a drill on Jan. 5, 2025. (Hossein Zohrevand/Tasnim News Agency via AP, File)
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Russia and Iran Have a Troubled History Despite their Current Alliance

FILE - In this photo released by the Tasnim News Agency, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard troops travel in a plane from Rasht in northern Iran, to Kermanshah in western Iran, during a drill on Jan. 5, 2025. (Hossein Zohrevand/Tasnim News Agency via AP, File)
FILE - In this photo released by the Tasnim News Agency, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard troops travel in a plane from Rasht in northern Iran, to Kermanshah in western Iran, during a drill on Jan. 5, 2025. (Hossein Zohrevand/Tasnim News Agency via AP, File)

Russian President Vladimir Putin is hosting his Iranian counterpart Friday for the signing of a broad pact between Moscow and Tehran.
The Kremlin says the “comprehensive strategic partnership” agreement between Putin and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian will take their cooperation to a new level.
The signing comes ahead of the Jan. 20 inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump, who has pledged to broker peace in Ukraine and take a tougher stance on Iran.
What to know about the Russian-Iranian relationship:
Historic Rivals Become Allies
Russia and Iran fought wars in the 18th and 19th centuries, with the Russian Empire capturing broad territories in the Caucasus and the Caspian region previously controlled by Persian rulers. In the early 20th century, Russian troops occupied large parts of northern Iran, but the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution ended their presence. In World War II, the Soviet Union and Britain invaded Iran, which still evokes painful memories in Tehran.
Tensions ran high in the Cold War, when Tehran was a US ally under the Shah of Iran. After his ouster in the 1979 Islamic Revolution, leader Khomeini castigated the US as the “Great Satan,” and denounced the USSR as the “Lesser Satan.”
Russia-Iran ties warmed after the USSR's demise in 1991. Moscow became an important trade partner and a key supplier of weapons and high technologies to Iran, which faced isolation from sweeping international sanctions.
Russia built Iran’s first nuclear power plant in the port of Bushehr that became operational in 2013. The next year, Moscow signed a contract to build two more nuclear reactors.
Russia was part of the 2015 deal between Iran and six nuclear powers offering sanctions relief for Tehran in exchange for curbing its atomic program and opening it to broader international scrutiny. Moscow offered political support to Iran when the US unilaterally withdrew from the agreement during Trump’s first term.
Allies In Syrian Civil War In Bolstering Assad
After a civil war in Syria erupted in 2011, Russia and Iran pooled efforts to shore up Bashar Assad's government against the Türkiye-backed opposition seeking his ouster. In 2015, Russia launched a military campaign in Syria, joining Iran and its proxies, that helped Assad re-establish control in most of the country.
With Moscow preoccupied with fighting in Ukraine, and Iran facing challenges from Israel, they failed to prevent a swift collapse of Assad’s rule last month after a lightning opposition offensive.
How Russia And Iran Cooperate
The West alleges that in 2022, Russia and Iran signed a $1.7 billion deal for Shahed drones after Putin sent troops into Ukraine, and the US also believes Iran has transferred short-range ballistic missiles, but neither Moscow nor Tehran ever acknowledged the actions.
Iranian leaders give strong political support to Putin, echoing his arguments for justifying the conflict.
Tehran likely hopes to secure financial and defense promises from Moscow for its tattered economy after the collapse of the 2015 nuclear deal and amid increasing pressure in the Middle East.
Assad’s downfall was a major blow to Tehran's self-described “Axis of Resistance” in the region after Israel’s punishing offensives against two militant groups backed by Iran -– Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon. Israel attacked Iran directly twice, and Israeli officials claimed the raids took out Tehran's Russia-supplied S-300 air defense systems.
Iran wants Russian long-range air defense systems and other weapons. It has hoped to get Russia's advanced Su-35 fighter jets to upgrade its aging fleet hobbled by sanctions, but Moscow only provided a few Yak-130 trainer jets in 2023.
Trump's policy of “maximum pressure” on Iran heralds more trouble for Tehran. This month, he left open the possibility of the US preemptive airstrikes on Iranian nuclear sites. Iran insists its nuclear program is peaceful, but some officials increasingly suggest it could pursue atomic weapons.
Deepening ties between Moscow and Tehran Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the “comprehensive strategic partnership” treaty covers all areas -– from trade and military cooperation to science, education and culture. He dismissed any link with Trump’s inauguration, saying the signing was planned long ago.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi described it as a “fully comprehensive treaty that takes into account all dimensions of the relationship, with a particularly strong economic aspect.”
He told state TV that while it covers defense and security cooperation, “this is a complete and comprehensive treaty, not one focused on a specific purpose, such as a military alliance.”
Healing Rifts, Lifting Suspicions
Despite the official rhetoric, the nations' troubled history makes many Iranians suspicious about Russia. Kremlin efforts to balance courting Tehran while staying friendly with Israel adds to the uneasiness.
There are signs of growing discontent about Russia within Iran’s powerful Revolutionary Guard, a paramilitary force answerable only to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. Last week, an audio recording leaked in Iranian media with a Guard general blaming Russia for woes Iran suffered in Syria.

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Gazans Long for Reopening of ‘Lifeline’ Rafah Crossing

A gate at the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and the Gaza Strip, in Rafah, Egypt, January 27, 2026. (Reuters)
A gate at the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and the Gaza Strip, in Rafah, Egypt, January 27, 2026. (Reuters)
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Gazans Long for Reopening of ‘Lifeline’ Rafah Crossing

A gate at the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and the Gaza Strip, in Rafah, Egypt, January 27, 2026. (Reuters)
A gate at the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and the Gaza Strip, in Rafah, Egypt, January 27, 2026. (Reuters)

With Gaza's vital Rafah border crossing expected to soon reopen, residents of the war-shattered territory are hoping to reunite with family members, or are looking to leave themselves.

The Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt is the Palestinian territory's only gateway to the outside world that does not lead to Israel and is a key entry point for both people and goods.

It has been closed since Israeli forces took control of it in May 2024, except for a limited reopening in early 2025, and other bids to reopen failed to materialize.

Following a US-brokered ceasefire that took effect in October, Rafah is expected to reopen for pedestrians, after visiting US envoys reportedly pressed Israeli officials to reopen the crossing.

"Opening the Rafah crossing means opening the door to life for me. I haven't seen my wife and children for two years since they left at the beginning of the war and I was prevented from travelling," said 48-year-old Mahmud al-Natour, who hails from Gaza City.

"My children are growing up far away from me, and the years are passing by as if we are cut off from the world and life itself," he told AFP.

Randa Samih, 48, also called the crossing "the lifeline of Gaza," but is worried about whether she would be able to leave.

She had applied for an exit permit to get treatment for her injured back, which she fears might not be serious enough to be allowed out.

"There are tens of thousands of injuries in Gaza, most of them more serious than mine," she said.

"We'll die or our health will decline before we get to travel."

- 'Limited reopening' -

Gaza, a tiny territory surrounded by Israel, Egypt and the Mediterranean Sea, has been under Israeli blockade even before Hamas's attack sparked the war.

Palestinian gunmen took 251 people hostage on October 7, 2023, in an attack that killed 1,221 others, most of them civilians.

Israel's retaliatory offensive has killed at least 71,662 Palestinians, according to figures from the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza that the United Nations considers reliable. The ministry does not say how many of the dead were fighters, though its data shows that more than half were women and children.

Ali Shaath heads the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza (NCAG), created as part of the ceasefire agreement. He announced last week that Rafah would reopen in both directions.

Israel said it would only allow pedestrians to travel through the crossing as part of its "limited reopening" once it had recovered the remains of the last hostage, Ran Gvili.

His remains were brought back to Israel later on Monday.

A Palestinian official told AFP on condition of anonymity that "estimates indicate that the Rafah crossing could be opened in both directions by the end of this week or early next week".

A member of the NCAG told AFP that the technocratic committee would be responsible for sending lists of travelers' names to the Israeli authorities for approval.

Outward travel will initially be limited to patients, the injured, students with university admission and visas, and holders of Egyptian citizenship or other nationalities and residency permits, the source said.

- 'Burning with anticipation' -

Gharam al-Jamla, a displaced Palestinian living in a tent in southern Gaza, told AFP she counted on the crossing's opening for her future.

"My dreams lie beyond the Rafah crossing. I applied for several scholarships to study journalism in English at universities in Türkiye. I received initial acceptance from two universities there," the 18-year-old said.

She added she would then want to return to Gaza "to be one of its voices to convey the truth to the world."

Gaza's civil defense agency spokesman, Mahmud Bassal, appealed for the full reopening of Rafah to allow the entry of unlimited aid and equipment for reconstruction.

"There are thousands of bodies under the rubble, including children, women and people with disabilities, which have not been recovered since the beginning of the war," he said.

The civil defense is a rescue force operating under Hamas authority.

Mohammed Khaled, 18, said he wanted to move on from the war.

"I'm burning with anticipation," he told AFP.

"I haven't seen my mother and sisters for two years. My mother traveled for medical treatment, and they only allowed my sisters to accompany her."

Khaled said he also hoped to be able to travel to have surgery for a shrapnel injury sustained during the war.

Features

The Rafah Crossing Is Gaza’s Lifeline to the World and Could Open Soon

This picture taken on August 27, 2023 shows a view of the entrance of the Rafah border crossing with Egypt in the southern Gaza Strip. (AFP)
This picture taken on August 27, 2023 shows a view of the entrance of the Rafah border crossing with Egypt in the southern Gaza Strip. (AFP)
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The Rafah Crossing Is Gaza’s Lifeline to the World and Could Open Soon

This picture taken on August 27, 2023 shows a view of the entrance of the Rafah border crossing with Egypt in the southern Gaza Strip. (AFP)
This picture taken on August 27, 2023 shows a view of the entrance of the Rafah border crossing with Egypt in the southern Gaza Strip. (AFP)

Palestinians are eagerly awaiting the reopening of the Rafah border crossing, which is Gaza’s lifeline and only gateway to the outside world that wasn’t controlled by Israel before the war.

The opening is expected after Israel on Monday announced that the remains of the final hostage in Gaza, Ran Gvili, had been recovered. Hours earlier, Israel had said it would open the Rafah crossing with limitations once the search operation for Gvili was complete.

The opening of the crossing between Gaza and Egypt, which was controlled by Egypt before the war, is seen as ushering in the second phase of the US-brokered ceasefire, though its opening had been called for as part of the first phase.

Here’s why the crossing is so vital.

What comes next

It is not immediately clear when the crossing will open and whether it will allow the flow of goods and people both into and out of the war-shattered territory. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office late Sunday said Israel had agreed to a reopening “for pedestrian passage only, subject to a full Israeli inspection mechanism.”

Hamas in a statement Monday called on Israel to open the Rafah crossing in both directions “without restrictions.” Ali Shaath, head of the new Palestinian committee administering Gaza’s daily affairs, last week said the crossing would be opened this week to facilitate movement to and from the enclave.

A reopened Rafah crossing would make it easier for Gazans to seek medical treatment, travel internationally or visit family in Egypt, which is home to tens of thousands of Palestinians. It would also help Gaza’s devastated economy, as Palestinian-made olive oil and other products are widely sold in Egypt and throughout the Arab world.

“We hope this will close off Israel’s pretexts and open the crossing,” said Abdel-Rahman Radwan, a Gaza City resident whose mother is a cancer patient and requires treatment outside Gaza.

Israel also has said Palestinians wanting to leave Gaza will have to get Israeli and Egyptian security approval. Egypt says it wants the crossing immediately opened in both directions, so Palestinians in Egypt can enter Gaza. Egypt has been opposed to Palestinian refugees permanently resettling in that country.

A lifeline for Gaza

With much of Gaza turned to rubble, the United Nations has said the territory’s population of over 2 million people needs a massive influx of fuel, food, medicine and tents. While some aid has entered via the crossing, trucks have been lined up outside it for months while waiting for the chance to enter.

Before the war, the Rafah crossing bustled with goods and people. Although Gaza has four other border crossings, they are shared with Israel, and only Rafah links the territory with another neighboring country.

After Hamas-led fighters sparked the war by attacking southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, Egypt tightened its restrictions on traffic through the Rafah crossing. Israel took control of the Gaza side in May 2024 as part of its offensive and closed the crossing except to the occasional medical evacuation.

Questions about the future

The Gaza side of the Rafah crossing was heavily damaged during the war. Once it does reopen, Israel has agreed to adhere to the humanitarian terms put in place for the previous ceasefire that took effect in January 2025, including allowing a certain number of truckloads of aid per day into Gaza.

With the current ceasefire deal calling for Hamas to have no role in running Gaza, it’s unclear who will operate the territory’s side of the Rafah crossing once the war ends.

The crossing also will be central to Gaza's reconstruction. Last week, US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and Middle East adviser Jared Kushner said postwar construction would first focus on building “workforce housing” in Rafah, the nearby southern city currently controlled by Israeli troops.

But Netanyahu on Monday told Israel's parliament, the Knesset: “We are at the start of the next (ceasefire) phase. What is the next phase? The next phase is disarming Hamas and demilitarizing the Gaza Strip. The next phase is not reconstruction.”

Meanwhile, humanitarian supplies inch forward. On Monday, the Egyptian Red Crescent facilitated the entry of a convoy carrying over 7,060 tons of food and medical aid through the Egyptian side of the Rafah crossing en route to Israeli inspection at Kerem Shalom before it potentially heads into Gaza, according to Egypt’s State Information Service.

Features

Behind Israel’s Recovery of Last Hostage Body in Gaza

Israeli police officer Ran Gvili (Bring Them Home Now/Handout via REUTERS)
Israeli police officer Ran Gvili (Bring Them Home Now/Handout via REUTERS)
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Behind Israel’s Recovery of Last Hostage Body in Gaza

Israeli police officer Ran Gvili (Bring Them Home Now/Handout via REUTERS)
Israeli police officer Ran Gvili (Bring Them Home Now/Handout via REUTERS)

In an unexpected move, Israeli forces carried out a direct search operation to recover the body of the last Israeli hostage in Gaza, police officer Ran Gvili.

The Israeli military said on Monday it had recovered Gvili’s remains, adding that the retrieval of all hostages, living and dead, from Gaza completes a core provision of the first phase of US President Donald Trump’s plan to end the war in the enclave.

Under heavy air and artillery fire, and amid gunfire from Israeli vehicles and drones, several military bulldozers, accompanied by booby-trapped vehicles, advanced shortly after midnight between Saturday and Sunday to the west of the so-called Yellow Line, areas under Hamas control, in the al-Tuffah neighbourhood east of Gaza City.

According to eyewitnesses and field sources cited by Asharq Al-Awsat, the bulldozers later withdrew east of the Yellow Line, areas under Israeli control. Shortly afterward, three booby-trapped vehicles exploded, with the blasts heard across wide parts of the Gaza Strip.

The sources said that soon after the explosions, tanks, armoured vehicles and bulldozers, accompanied by excavation equipment, moved back into the area, specifically toward al-Batsh cemetery in al-Tuffah, west of the Yellow Line.

Sustained shelling and gunfire from vehicles and drones killed at least two Palestinians and wounded more than 25 others at different times, some critically, according to the sources.

Gaza’s civil defense has indicated that there may be additional casualties but access to them is prevented by Israeli forces.

 

Map showing the phases of withdrawal from Gaza under Trump’s plan (White House)

 

Not an Ordinary operation

Initial assessments suggested the move was a routine operation to expand the Yellow Line, similar to actions carried out in eastern Gaza City. It later emerged, however, from a statement issued by Abu Ubaida, spokesperson for the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas’s armed wing, that the Israeli army was conducting the operation to search for the body of the last Israeli hostage, police officer Ran Gvili. This was later confirmed by the Israeli military spokesperson and by the office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The announcement raised questions about the apparent shift in how Israel handled the recovery of hostages’ bodies. In previous cases, the al-Qassam Brigades had overseen such operations, including inside areas designated as Yellow Line zones and under Israeli control, in coordination with the International Committee of the Red Cross, following prior arrangements involving Hamas, mediators and Israel.

Israeli soldiers stand at the entrance of a tunnel in Rafah, Gaza Strip, December 8, 2025 (AP)

Israeli objection to al-Qassam Brigades' involvement

Field sources from Hamas told Asharq Al-Awsat that al-Qassam team, accompanied by the Red Cross, had been expected to carry out the operation. Israel, however, objected and demanded the handover of coordinates for the area where the body was believed to be located. The information was relayed through mediators, after which the Israeli operation began.

A senior political source involved in the ceasefire negotiations confirmed this information, saying Israel insisted on carrying out the operation itself. Israel cited reasons including the speed of the search, its technical capabilities to identify remains, and its ability to verify identity on site rather than recover the body for examination elsewhere.

The source said mediators supported the expedited approach that allowed Israel to extract the body directly.

According to the sources, Hamas did not have precise information on the body’s location but indicated al-Batsh cemetery, between the al-Tuffah and Shuja’iyya neighbourhoods.

This marked the second Israeli operation inside al-Batsh cemetery since the start of the Gaza war. Sources said it was the third operation to affect the site overall, where no Israeli bodies had previously been found.

Near Khalil al-Hayya’s Home

Footage released by Israeli media, taken by Israeli drones, showed machinery excavating most of the graves at the cemetery through Monday morning. Israeli army radio said more than 250 Palestinian graves had been exhumed.

The cemetery lies about 500 metres from the original Yellow Line, but successive expansions have left it only metres from the updated boundary.

Field sources told Asharq Al-Awsat that the area searched for the hostage’s body was about 30 metres from Khalil al-Hayya Street, named after the home of Hamas’s Gaza-based political leader, who is leading ceasefire negotiations. Tanks were deployed along the street and in surrounding areas to secure the forces operating at the cemetery.

How Was the Location Identified?

Previous searches for Gvili’s body, focused on the al-Zeitoun and Shuja’iyya areas, had failed. On why the search was focused on al-Tuffah, Hamas field and political sources said some fighters with indirect knowledge of the case had provided information indicating the body had, at one point, been buried in that cemetery.

They said the information could not be confirmed with high confidence because those directly involved had been killed or targeted in separate attacks or clashes during the war.

The sources suggested the information may have matched intelligence obtained by Israel’s Shin Bet security service from a Palestinian Islamic Jihad operative abducted about a month ago from Gaza City, who had links to the abduction of the Israeli police officer and the handling of his body.

The sources said Israel appeared to have information pointing to the cemetery even before Hamas relayed its own coordinates, linking the timing of the search to a decision to open the Rafah crossing, expected on Tuesday or, at the latest, Thursday.

 

Israeli soldiers in a tunnel that the army says Hamas militants used to attack the Erez crossing in northern Gaza, December 15, 2023 (AP)

Hamas Calls for Enforcement of the Agreement

Hamas spokesperson Hazem Qasim said in a statement that the recovery of the body of the last Israeli hostage in Gaza “confirms the movement’s commitment to all requirements of the ceasefire agreement, including the exchange track and its full completion in accordance with the deal.”

He reaffirmed Hamas’s commitment to all aspects of the agreement, including facilitating the work of the national committee tasked with administering Gaza, and called on mediators and the United States to compel Israel to halt violations of the agreement and implement its outstanding obligations.