Moscow and Iran are improving their relations amidst the Ukrainian war. Iran has expressly stated that it doesn’t support the war and is in favor of a cease fire. However, their relations are supposedly improving on a “strategic” level in response to the sanctions placed by the US and western partners. This meeting happened following Iran’s admission to selling military drones to Russia before the war. Iran had previously denied all alligations of selling the suicide drones to Russia. Iran isn’t only focused on strategic relations because it wishes to improve energy, transport, agriculture, trade, banking, and environmentally. This is demonstrated because they became a member of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization earlier this year.
On a global scale, the biggest thing to be aware of is Iran becoming a member of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), one of the largest IGO’s in the world land mass wise and GDP wise. Considering that the SCO is NATO’s largest competitor, Iran joining the other isn’t all that surprising considering US and Iran relations have been anything but stellar. Following Iran becoming a member of the SCO, Iran began talks with Russia because they wish to improve their infrastructure and economy. The meeting with Moscow officials also led to the signing of a $40bn energy deal. If their relationship continues to grow, Iran can quickly become much more powerful than they are currently which would only be adding another weapon that can be used against NATO. In regards to the Ukrainian war, Iran has recently admitted to selling a limited number of drones (they stress the statement of limited) to Russia before the war broke out. Iran had denied allegations before the meeting with Moscow officials because they were attempting to uphold their image of neutrality in regards to the war. They are still saying that they are neutral in regards to their war considering Iran said they were in favor of a ceasefire, no matter what, and they would be willing to help.
This ties into class based on our discussion of intergovernmental alliances. For example, NATO and the SCO. These alliances were not made because the states felt like making them, they were made out of necessity. More specifically, the SCO was made in response to NATO as a powercheck. On the topic of alliances, the mention of bandwagon states does come to mind considering that both the SCO and NATO have them. However, I am unsure whether or not Iran is a bandwagon state or not. On one hand, they are not nearly as powerful as other states in the region. However, they are not a complete bandwagon considering they have provided Russia with military weapons and are in the process of improving their infrastructure.