What do two nations with a history of over 200 years of enmity and war do when they seek a change of discourse? Find a common enemy — real or imagined. For Russia and Iran, traditional foes since the 18th century, that common enemy is the United States, according to political circles in Moscow and Tehran.
Russian President Vladimir Putin dwelt on the idea last month during a speech in Sochi. He said the United States regards “Russia, because of its military might, China because of its rising economic power and Iran because of its nuclear program” as “enemies.”
On that basis, earlier this year, Putin tried to persuade China to transform the so-called Shanghai Group, set up to fight Islamic terrorism, into a fully-fledged military alliance that would also include Iran. When the Chinese wiggled out of the scheme, Putin focused his attention on “closer cooperation” with Tehran.
Russia and Iran share a number of grievances against the United States and its allies in Europe and the Middle East. Both have been subjected to sanctions that have already hit their economies, compounding the effects of global recession. Both claim that the current fall in oil prices represents a conspiracy by Washington and its oil-rich Arab allies to push Russia and Iran, both heavily dependent on export revenues, to the wall. More important, perhaps, both are persuaded that the United States has long been targeting them for regime change via economic pressure combined with “velvet revolution” dissent.
Analysts and policymakers in Moscow believe that Russia and Iran could use the remainder of Barack Obama’s presidency to create “irreversible realities” in Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Central Asia.
More important, Russia has agreed to help speed up Iran’s nuclear program. Last month an agreement to build two more reactors in Bushehr was signed in Moscow as part of an accord to double bilateral trade within the next five years.
Having supplied China with S-400 surface-to-air missiles, Russia is now expected to deliver similar weapons to Iran on the basis of contracts signed almost a decade ago. Russia and Iran are also working together to exercise influence in both Iraq and Afghanistan before some future US president tries to fill the policy created by Obama’s confused and wayward policies.
By the time the “fortochka Obama” is closed, Moscow and Tehran hope to have consolidated a firewall spanning a vast territory from the Baltics to the Persian Gulf, shielding them against what Putin and Iranian “Supreme Guide” Ali Khamenei designate as “American schemes.”
