The military ties developing between Moscow and Tehran are multi-faceted.
Another topic considered is the possible handover of Russia’s Syrian bases to Revolutionary Guards forces, since Moscow is deploying some of its Syria-based units as reinforcements for its war effort in Ukraine. This subject first came up in July 22 during the talks Revolutionary Guards commander Gen. Hossein Salami held in Damascus with Syrian president Bashar Assad. At the time, Moscow was against expanding Iran’s foothold in Syra, but, according to Western intelligence sources, it is more amenable to this at present.
An open display of the tightening military relations is still to come with a large-scale joint Russian, Chinese, Iranian naval exercise in Venezuela scheduled to take places from 17 to 27 of August in Venezuela.
This will be the first time Moscow is blatantly working with Tehran to signal Washington that the three hostile navies are quite able to combine and strike America in the event of total war.
In further signs of amity, Iran has established a trade center in Moscow; Russian and Iranian airlines have stepped up the frequency of flights between the two countries; both are using Russia’s Mir electronic payment service and finally, Russia has provided Iran with a passage to India for its exports.
Turkey and Russia: A partnership essential to both
Just 17 days after the last Astana summit in TehranTurkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his counterpart Vladimir Putin met again — this time in Sochi. As Erdogan was underlining that “the world was watching the Sochi summit,” the international headlines drew attention to the “secretive nature” of the two leaders’ meeting, which was held behind closed doors.
After four hours of negotiations, an agreement was reached between Putin and Erdogan to expand cooperation in the economic and energy sectors. A joint statement was released following the meeting which expressed “the decisiveness to deepen the ties,” while further details of the agreement remained unclear. Yet, the talk of boosting economic ties was enough to raise eyebrows in the West, which has attempted to put pressure on the Russian economy in the wake of its invasion of Ukraine.
Daria Isachenko, an expert on Turkey and Russia at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs, wrote “Relations between Turkey and Russia are a puzzle to many in the West.” Having experienced periods of turbulence in their complex bilateral relationship over the years, a lack of alternatives seems to have brought Erdogan and Putin on a more even keel — at least in the short term. [ Source: Deutche Welle (Read More…) ]
Iran to build 3 more suspected spy satellites as concern mounts over Russia ties
Iran plans to commission three more versions of a satellite launched this week by Russia, Tehran’s government spokesman said Friday.
The Khayyam blasted into orbit on Tuesday, prompting US accusations that it is intended for spying. Iran dismissed Washington’s claim as “childish.”
“The construction of three other Khayyam satellites with the participation of Iranian scientists is on the government’s agenda,” its spokesman Ali Bahadori-Jahromi said on Twitter. [ Source: Times of Israel (Read More…) ]
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