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)

Asharq Al Awsat

06:45-17 January 2025 AD ـ 18 Rajab 1446 AH

Asharq Al Awsat

06:45-17 January 2025 AD ـ 18 Rajab 1446 AH

Russia and Iran Have a Troubled History Despite their Current Alliance

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.

An American Tradition: Defeated Candidates Attending the President-Elect’s Inauguration

Vice President Kamala Harris talks to reporters after overseeing the ceremonial certification of her defeat to incoming President-elect Donald Trump, at the US Capitol in Washington, Jan. 6, 2025. (AP)

09:42-14 January 2025 AD ـ 15 Rajab 1446 AH

An American Tradition: Defeated Candidates Attending the President-Elect’s Inauguration

In January 1981, Jimmy Carter nodded politely toward Ronald Reagan as the new Republican president thanked the Democrat for his administration's help after Reagan resoundingly defeated Carter the previous November.

Twenty years earlier, after a much closer race, Republican Richard Nixon clasped John F. Kennedy's hand and offered the new Democratic president a word of encouragement.

The US has a long tradition of defeated presidential candidates sharing the inauguration stage with the people who defeated them, projecting to the world the orderly transfer of power. It's a practice that Vice President Kamala Harris will resume on Jan. 20 after an eight-year hiatus.

Only once in the television era — with its magnifying effect on a losing candidate's expression — has a defeated candidate skipped the exercise. That candidate, former President Donald Trump, left for Florida after a failed effort to overturn his loss based on false or unfounded theories of voter fraud.

With Harris watching, Trump is scheduled to stand on the Capitol's west steps and be sworn in for a second term.

Below are examples of episodes that have featured a losing candidate in a rite that Reagan called "nothing short of a miracle."

2001: Al Gore and George W. Bush Democrat Al Gore conceded to Republican George W. Bush after 36 days of legal battling over Florida's ballots ended with a divided Supreme Court ruling to end the recount.

But Gore, the sitting vice president, would join Bush on the west steps of the Capitol a month later as the Texas governor was sworn in. After Bush took the oath, he and Gore shook hands, spoke briefly and smiled before Gore returned to his seat clapping along to the presidential anthem, "Hail to the Chief."

A disappointed Gore accepted the outcome and his role in demonstrating continuity of governance, former Gore campaign spokeswoman Kiki McLean said.

"He may have wished, ‘I wish that was me standing there,’" McLean said. "But I don't think Gore for one minute ever doubted he should be there in his capacity as vice president."

Hillary Clinton smiles wide as she and former President Jimmy Carter, from left, former first lady Rosalynn Carter, former President Bill Clinton, former President George W. Bush, and former first lady Laura Bush wait for the start of the inauguration ceremony to swear President-elect Donald Trump as the 45th president of the United States, at the Capitol in Washington, Jan. 20, 2017. (AP)

2017: Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump Democrat Hillary Clinton was candid about her disappointment in losing to Trump in 2016, when — like Gore against Bush — she received more votes but failed to win an Electoral College majority. "Obviously, I was crushed," she told Howard Stern on his radio show in 2019.

Calling Inauguration Day "one of the hardest days of my life," Clinton said she planned to attend Trump's swearing-in out of a sense of duty, having been first lady during her husband's presidency from 1993 to 2001. "You put on the best face possible," Clinton said on Stern's show.

2021: Mike Pence (with Trump absent) and Joe Biden Trump four years ago claimed without evidence that his loss to President Joe Biden was marred by widespread fraud. Two weeks earlier, Trump supporters had stormed the Capitol in a violent siege aimed at halting the electoral vote certification.

Instead, then-Vice President Mike Pence was the face of the outgoing administration.

"Sure, it was awkward," Pence's former chief of staff Marc Short said.

Still, Pence and his wife met privately with Biden and his wife to congratulate them in the Capitol before the ceremony, and escorted newly sworn-in Vice President Kamala Harris and her husband out of the Capitol afterward, as tradition had prescribed, Short said.

"There was an appreciation expressed for him by members of both chambers in both parties," he said.

1993: George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton Bush stood on the Capitol's west steps three times for his swearing-in — as vice president twice and in 1989 to be inaugurated as president. He would attend again in 1993 in defeat.

He joined Bill Clinton, the Democrat who beat him, on the traditional walk out onto the east steps. Bush would return triumphantly to the inaugural ceremony eight years later as the father of Clinton's successor, George W. Bush.

1961: Richard Nixon and John F. Kennedy Nixon had just lost the 1960 election by fewer than 120,000 votes in what was the closest presidential contest in 44 years. But the departing vice president approached Kennedy with a wide grin, a handshake and an audible "good luck" just seconds after the winning Democrat's swearing-in.

Nixon would have to wait eight years to be sworn in as president, while his losing Democratic opponent — outgoing Vice President Hubert Humphrey — looked on. He was inaugurated a second time after winning reelection in 1972, only to resign after the Watergate scandal.

President-elect Ronald Reagan applauds as outgoing President Jimmy Carter waves to the crowd at Reagan's inaugural ceremony, in Washington, Jan. 20, 1981. (AP Photo, File)

1933: Herbert Hoover and Franklin D. Roosevelt Like Bush, Hoover would attend just one inauguration as a new president before losing to a Democrat four years later. But Democrat Franklin Roosevelt's 1933 swearing-in would not be Hoover's last. Hoover would live for another 31 years, see four more presidents sworn in, and sit in places of honor at the two inaugurations of Republican Dwight D. Eisenhower.

1897: Grover Cleveland and Benjamin Harrison Cleveland, the sitting Democratic president, lost reelection in 1888 while winning more popular votes than former Indiana Sen. Benjamin Harrison. But Cleveland still managed to hold Harrison’s umbrella while the Republican was sworn in during a rainy 1889 inauguration.

Elected to a second, non-consecutive term in 1892, Cleveland, however, would stand solemnly behind William McKinley four years later at the Republican's 1897 inauguration, leaving the presidency that day after losing the 1896 nomination of his own party.

Cleveland was the only president to win two non-consecutive terms until Trump's victory in November.

Russia and Iran Have a Troubled History Despite their Current Alliance

Russia and Iran Have a Troubled History Despite their Current Alliance

Most Viewed

An American Tradition: Defeated Candidates Attending the President-Elect’s Inauguration

An American Tradition: Defeated Candidates Attending the President-Elect’s Inauguration

لم تشترك بعد