Iran has been for Russia’s involvement in the Syrian crisis from the start, Russian expert on Iran Karine Gevorkyan has told an EADaily correspondent.
She believes that current tactical tasks of Russia and Iran coincided which makes the two countries natural allies. “Moreover, one can state with high probability that Russia’s involvement would be under question without consent from Iran. For instance, when Russian missiles hit ISIL targets in Syria from the Caspian Sea, they were flying over Iran. Naturally, Russia coordinated it with Tehran, and the Russian defense ministry announced it. It is called “close cooperation” and speaks for itself,” Gevorkyan stressed adding that the ministry’s statement could be regarded even as an ostentatious one.
Simultaneously, Gevorkyan warned that the Russian-Iranian unison was not that beautiful as it could look at the first glance. “Iran is not a candy kid ready to follow anyone’s footsteps. It is a regional power with its own policy, resources and interests. It is necessary to comprehend that the current cooperation is based on similar tasks of the two subjects with independent policies. Similar operative tasks do not mean that tactical and strategic tasks are similar too. Neither it means that in case of problems Iranians would surrender. They defend their sovereignty and pursue independent policy strengthening its influence in the region,” she said.
Nevertheless, Karine Gevorkyan believes that there are no preconditions for a Russian-Iranian confrontation. “Now, that Russia is involved in the Syrian conflict, a new situation is taking shape; the parties are occupying their positions. When the process is over, another one will start. It will be a competitive one, and the parties in it will be changing the region as they want, divide into spheres of influence. A moderate Russia-Iran competition can occur. The key word here is “moderate,” and we also can add the term “unregulated” and then we shall have the most probable scenario for the future. Well, it takes a long time to go there, so we can just be content to state that Russia has no problems with Iran,” the expert concluded.
