The Russia-Iran partnership

 John Allen Gay:

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So why are these two old foes so friendly these days? The West is a big part of the answer. First, Iran and Russia are isolated from the Western part of the international system, and the West’s dominant role in the global financial system has been a particular headache to both. Russia is the relative newcomer here: major sanctions largely follow its 2014 and especially 2022 invasions of Ukraine. And despite grand pronouncements, it is only the “world’s most sanctioned country” by the number of Russian sanctions targets; the sanctions targeting Iran are far more severe.

Second, Iran and Russia both have a structural and ideological desire to reorder the international system. All those sanctions are a reminder that this system is still centered on the West and still subject to Western foreign policy goals. That’s no good if you aim to do things the West doesn’t like, such as seize a Western-oriented neighbor’s territory or edge closer to nuclear breakout.
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They are both pariah states.  They both came to be sanctioned because of their murderous foreign policies.  Iran is a terror state that has threatened genocide against Israel while Russia wants to conquer much of eastern Europe.  It looks like a rerun of the Hitler-Mussolini pact.

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