“I believe that the British and American psychological operations and propaganda machine are seeking to depict Russia as evil, and to promote hatred of Russia and propagate that the Russians are bad, dangerous, unreliable and unpredictable, and that there is no difference between Tsarist Russia, the communist Soviet Union and modern Russia…to provoke the public against the consolidation of Iran’s relations with the new Russia,” Jalali said in an interview with Iran Newspaper ahead of the Iranian president’s trip to Moscow.

Some Iranians have been skeptical about Iran’s deepening ties with the northern neighbor because of a difficult shared history between the two stretching back centuries. The problem is that the Iranians’ knowledge about Russia goes back to the Tsarist era and the Soviet Union, and with the same reasoning, they judge today’s relations, the Iranian ambassador to Russia said.

“By likening modern Russia to negative and ingrained perceptions of the historical behavior of Tsarist Russia as well as the hegemonic tendencies of the Soviet Union during the communist rule, some undermine any consolidation of relations between Iran and modern Russia,” the Iranian ambassador stated.

The independent view is that Russia is a powerful country in Iran’s northern neighborhood. Naturally, the Islamic Republic of Iran, regardless of its relations with other countries, is interested in having strong relations with Russia, as its northern neighbor, based on its national interests, Jalali added.

Asked about Iran’s exports to Russia, he said the export volume is far from satisfactory.

Jalali explained that securing an estimated 5 billion dollar share of Russia’s 240 billion dollar import market and at least 20 billion dollars in transit revenue for Iran from the north-south corridor between Russia and Iran are achievable results of strengthening relations with Moscow.

“If we think of only one percent of exports to Russia, it would be 2.5 billion dollars. Surely, as a neighboring country, we can export much more products by carefully examining the Russian economy and its needs,” he noted.

The Iranian ambassador said through cooperation with the Russian Federation, Iran can launch a north-south transit route which would help bolster Iran’s national security.

Asked whether Russia has the potential to become a strategic partner, Jalali said Iran views Russia as a powerful country with great economic, political, security and defense capabilities.

“We can stand together and have serious cooperation, and of course the Caucasus is a region where we can work with them. We can work together on the Caspian Sea, the fight against extremism and terrorism. The West’s plan within the Central Asian region is to increase terrorism and extremism, and there is room for that. Here we need to work together in that regard,” he added.

According to the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA),
Iran and Russia currently view each other as an opportunity to establish a strategic corridor and equal partnership.

The current status of the international relations system has also increased the incentives for Eastern bloc countries to seek strategic relations as they grapple with the US-led global hegemony.

Experts believe that the Iranian president’s visit to Russia could be a turning point in Tehran-Moscow relations and raise the quality of bilateral ties to a strategic level.

Regional partnerships are being completed. This path started with Iran’s permanent membership in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, then efforts were made at the ECO meeting to complement that, and the path continued with the recent implementation of the 25-year strategic agreement between Iran and China. Now it’s time for the implementation of the 20-year agreement with Russia.

The Iranian government has a strategy to implement 20-year cooperation deals with major neighboring countries.

Meanwhile, it needs to persuade the public that its Look to East Policy is justified.

The current Iranian administration, especially the Foreign Ministry must provide the public with accurate and clear information about the benefits of convergence with Russia, India, China, Turkey, Iraq and other Eurasian neighbors and countries.

Apart from the history of Western pressure campaigns, especially those launched by the United States against Iran, according to many experts, global power and wealth is shifting from the West to the East, and this is providing many countries including Iran with numerous opportunities.

Over the past month, Western media have been trying to promote Russophobia because they are aware of the importance of Raisi’s trip to Moscow especially because it comes after Iran’s full accession to the Shanghai Cooperation Organization.

In fact, they are worried that one day the Russians may decide to expand the Collective Security Treaty Organization and add new member states like Iran. These opponents are somehow worried about the achievements of this trip.

The convergence of the Eurasian giants provides the capacity to challenge the U.S. government’s economic hegemony and Washington’s coercion and threats against other governments.

Washington seeks to drive a wedge between Russia and countries like Germany, China, Turkey, Ukraine, India and Iran.

And for this purpose, the United States uses a suspicion and mistrust strategy.

Meanwhile, observers believe that shared interests and commonalities in the economic, political, and cultural spheres have also led Tehran and Moscow to work together.

Common stances on many regional and international issues, like counter terrorism efforts, opposing U.S. bullying approach and advocating multilateralism are among the reasons for closer cooperation between Tehran and Moscow.

And last but not least, experts believe that Tehran needs to diversify its foreign relations especially in the economic field. Such diversification forms the cornerstone of the Greater Eurasian Partnership initiative proposed by Russia.

Hassan Beheshtipour told the IRIB one prong concerns nuclear cooperation between Tehran and Moscow, which is completing the second and third phases of the Bushehr Power Plant in Iran.

The Russian and Caucasus affairs expert added that obstacles to the expansion of the Iranian nuclear program with Russia’s help, which are mainly financial, are being removed.

According to Beheshtipour, the second prong regarding the Russia-Iran ties is their military and defensive cooperation, for which the ground is paved after the arms embargo on Iran was terminated.

He added that the third prong is about the Iran-Russian cooperation in the southern Caucasus.

Beheshtipour said Tehran and Moscow are approaching the issue with a 3+3 format consisting of Azerbaijan Republic, Armenia, Georgia, Russia, Iran and Turkey.

He also noted that Iran and Russia can play a significant role in Afghanistan and in restoring stability to the country after the withdrawal of the US forces.

The Iranian political expert added that Russia can also help decide the share of the Caspian Sea’s littoral states though the main stakeholders are Iran and Azerbaijan Republic and a couple of other ex-Soviet republics. Beheshtipour also spoke of Russia’s role in the Vienna talks. He said Russia is a positive player in this regard. He noted that removing anti-Iran sanctions will be highly conducive to expansion of ties between Tehran and Moscow.