The most urgent issue on the mind of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi ahead of talks with his Russian counterpart is the “ethnic cleansing and massacres” that Israel is conducting in Palestine, Foad Izadi, associate professor at the Department of American Studies, Faculty of World Studies, University of Tehran, told Sputnik.
This explains the timing of the trip, said the expert, adding that the issue of genocide should be a concern to all world leaders. “And that's obviously something that Iran cares about,” the professor pointed out, in reference to the spiraling civilian death toll in Gaza amid Israel’s war on Hamas.
After the seven-day Palestine-Israel ceasefire established as part of an agreement to exchange hostages and allow passage for humanitarian aid came to a close on December 1, officials on the ground have been warning of the increasingly dire situation in the enclave.
Bearing in mind how Iran-Russia relations have grown in recent years, with successful cooperation on issues related to the Middle East by both sides, like in the case of the Syrian civil war, “I think the Iranian president is trying to see whether Russia would be more active when it comes to the genocide that's taking place in Palestine,” Izadi speculated.
“So I think that's the reason we're seeing the trip today. That's going to be an important issue that will be discussed,” he said.
Besides the issue of Palestine, taking into account the high-ranking delegation accompanying Iran's president, one can surmise that bilateral relations between Iran and Russia will also be uppermost at the talks, said the pundit. Iran and Russia have increased their economic ties significantly, especially in the last couple of years, emphasized the professor. Therefore, Iran is looking to expand this cooperation in the military, economic, cultural, and other spheres, Professor Izadi said.
Furthermore, the North-South Transport Corridor will be a major theme in upcoming bilateral negotiations between Russia and Iran, said the expert, clarifying:
“One issue we have with economic cooperation is making sure that the goods that are supposed to come from Iran and the goods that Iran is buying from Russia can actually be delivered. The Caspian Sea is shared by both countries. So facilitating trade, using the Caspian Sea, is a focus of both countries that's going to increase. Use of railroads to carry cargo needs to increase, as well as regular roads."
There are also other political issues that are of interest to both sides, the analyst pointed out. Likeminded countries like Iran and Russia need to align their positions in response to the “aggression that the West is engaged in, whether it's in Ukraine or Palestine or in other places,” he stated.
“Iran supports Russia's resistance against the Western pressure… And of course, Russia has a right to defend its territory from Western attacks. Since we are moving towards a new world order, both Iran and Russia, I think, realize that in this time of change and the time of transition to a new world order... The closer Iran-Russia relations become, the better it's going to be for both sides,” Foad Izadi concluded.