Since the presidential elections the new leader of Iran is beefing up the efforts to gain new contacts and strengthen its previously acquired positions among the former Soviet republics. This effort is a part of the global Iranian strategy in Eastern Europe is aimed at the neutralization of US efforts to accomplish the economic and political isolation of Iran. Tehran aspires to become one of the key or at least one of the major external economic partners of the countries of region.
Russia and Ukraine, though supposedly having different political alignments are the main targets of Tehran's strife for influence. Russia has a long common history with Iran, but still, current level of relations is considered to be just the beginning of the upcoming apogee. Ukraine, though seems to become more pro-Western state after the last elections, has no objections to rapprochement with Iran. Moreover, it is actively approaches Tehran.
But lets start with the major, the first one among the countries with which Iranians aspire to strengthen relation, which is, of course, Russia.
Russians were really dumbfounded by the results of the Iranian presidential elections. Almost nobody could predict the victory of Ahmadinejad but frankly not so many officials and analysts were really disappointed or predicted any drastic changes of Iranian policy towards Russia. It is appropriate to remind a prediction of the national RIAN agency commentator Pyotr Goncharov. A day before the elections he wrote an editorial article, claiming that Russia will not lose no matter who wins the second round of the presidential election in Iran. But still Iranians decided to refute all the Russian worries. They started a feverish activity in this direction, primarily emphasizing the nuclear sphere. Senior Iranian officials have indicated that Russia could become a partner in lucrative projects to build 20 nuclear power stations in Iran. "A plan has been approved in parliament obliging the government to study the possibility of building 20 nuclear power stations," Kazem Jalali, head of the Iranian parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee, announced in Moscow. Jalali, heading the Iran-Russia Parliamentary Friendship Group on an official visit to Russia, made the remarks at a meeting with Alexander Rumyantsev, head of the Russian Federal Atomic Energy Agency (Rosatom). The Russians were pleased with the issue.
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Alexander Rumyantsev (r) and his Iranian counterpart Gholamreza Aghazadeh
(photo: People's Daily Online). |
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Meeting with Jalali, Boris Gryzlov, speaker of the Russian State Duma, urged expanded cooperation with Iran. He also hailed bilateral ties as "profound and stable," adding that Iran's participation in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) as an observer was of "high importance." Iran attaches special significance to Russia's role in international developments, Jalali noted.
Another Iranian official - Mohammad Khoshchehreh, an aide to president-elect Mahmoud Ahmadinejad visiting Moscow also advocated expanding nuclear ties with Russia. Iran intends to continue cooperation with Russia in nuclear energy, he announced. "There are no concerns that Russia might be ousted from the Iranian market." Iran is satisfied with how Russian specialists are building the Bushehr nuclear power plant, he added. Khoshchehreh visited Moscow for talks on continued nuclear cooperation and also to meet with Russia's top nuclear official, Rumyantsev. Moscow is yet to comment officially on Iran's 20 nuclear power stations concept. More or less officially answered the head of the Russia Federal Atomic Energy Agency Alexander Rumyantsev who came to Tehran last Thursday and declared that Russia will participate in establishment of a nuclear power plants in the Islamic Republic of Iran but underlined that Russia cannot manage to help Iran establish twenty power plants simultaneously.
A number of Russian officials also have indicated that Russia looks forward to boosting nuclear ties with Iran. Most recently, Sergei Stepashin, head of the Russian Audit Chamber, the country's financial watchdog, said Russia was interested in building more units at Bushehr. "While visiting the first unit of the Bushehr nuclear power plant being built by Russian specialists, Russian and Iranian officials discussed whether Russia would take part in the construction of the second, third, and fourth units," Stepashin said, adding that "Russia is prepared for and genuinely interested in this".
Stepashin's comments followed Russian President Vladimir Putin's remarks that his country would continue its nuclear cooperation with Iran after Ahmadinejad's election. "We are ready to continue cooperation with Iran in the atomic energy sector, while taking into account our international obligations in the area of non-proliferation, and to cooperate on finding a mutually acceptable political solution to existing questions," Putin said last month.
As for other spheres of cooperation, Russia's provisional charge d'affaires in Tehran Aleksey Dedov in the interview to the Russian Nezavisimaya Gazeta daily noted that "Russia views Iran solely as its regional partner, and not as a challenger. The highest level of trustworthiness between the two states can be seen in such key issues as international security, disarmament, WMD nonproliferation, launch of the Zohreh satellite, and fight against terrorism and extremism".
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Julia Timoshenko
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But, as it was mentioned before, Russian direction, being a major is not the only one.
Ukraine, the highest Iranian officials claim, is another prioritized country. Interestingly enough, the crisis in the relations between Kiev and Moscow on the issue of the alleged Ukrainian stealing of the Russian gas is one of the serious factors of Iranian-Ukrainian rapprochement. It is important to note several recent statements by the officials of both countries. The Prime Minister of Ukraine Julia Timoshenko announced that she will go to Iran to agree upon opening one more source of gas supply to Ukraine. "My next mission is Iran, because there is the largest gas supply in the world after Russia. In fact, it is the very diversification," said Timoshenko. But she was not the first one to address this issue.
"Iran hopes to work with Ukraine on an ambitious gas pipeline project in the near future", Iranian ex-President Mohammad Khatami said earlier, meaning an idea to build a gas pipeline for transportation of Iranian gas to Europe, which was pre-discussed far in 2000 with Viktor Yushchenko when he was a Prime Minister. "I am confident the project to construct a pipeline to transport Iranian gas across Ukraine would become a reality", Khatami said during a very notable meeting with Ukrainian National Security Council Secretary Pyotr Poroshenko. Poroshenko came to
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| Pyotr Poroshenko |
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Tehran to discuss plenitude of issues and cooperation possibilities with Iranian leaders. Khatami noted that the two countries worked together on the Iran-140 jet project and this showed that Iran and Ukraine could work together on cutting-edge technologies in areas such as shipbuilding and oil production. He added that relations between the two countries would be further improved if the gas pipeline project were to go ahead. Poroshenko welcomed President Khatami's proposal for bilateral cooperation on peace and security and reaffirmed Ukraine's interest in a joint gas pipeline project. "Several possible routes of construction through Armenia, Georgia, Russia, and also Turkey and the Black Sea have been considered", Poroshenko said, noting that the project could cost over $10 billion and see over one thousand kilometers of pipeline in Iranian territory alone.
His meeting with the new Iranian leader was somehow a copy of the meeting with Khatami. Moreover, Ahmadinejad without beating around the bush said to Poroshenko that Ukraine for him is a "prioritized partner in the energy sphere". He noted "Iran is ready to take part in financing the laying of the gas pipeline in its territory and guarantee determined volumes of gas supplies and fix prices for the recoupment period". Also Ahmadinejad invited Ukrainian high-ranking officials to Tehran and decided with Poroshenko that the Deputy Energy Ministers of both countries and other states that are interested to take part in the pipeline project will meet in Iran on July 24-25.
Thus, using an ambitious pipeline project Ukraine will be turned by Iranians not only into the economic partner, but also into dependent state, increasing this way Tehran's influence in the Eastern Europe. Ukraine and Russia are, of course not the only states on the post-Soviet space towards which Iran is boosting its diplomatic and economic activity to compensate potential losses of influence in its own region and gain new allies. The states of Central Asia and Caucasus will be discussed in the next part of the article.
Related items:
Relations Between Russia and Iran
Future of Russian-Iranian Relations
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