Vladimir Putin. Photo: Gavriil Grigorov / AP
At the time of the most acute threat from Israel and the United States, Iran was left without the promised military support from its strategic ally, Russia. Despite many years of cooperation and an officially concluded strategic partnership, Tehran has received only rhetorical support from the Kremlin, analysts cited by The Wall Street Journal state.
Against the backdrop of Israel’s massive strikes on Iran’s nuclear infrastructure, command centres and missile arsenals, Tehran expected active assistance from Moscow. However, during a meeting with Iranian diplomat Abbas Araqchi, Russian President Vladimir Putin limited himself to statements about his desire to “help the Iranian people” and condemned the strikes as “unprovoked” – no specific mention of military support was made.
Kremlin avoids escalation
Formally signed in January, the strategic agreement between Iran and Russia does not contain any commitments on mutual defence. Military experts, including Nikolai Kozhanov of the University of Qatar, emphasise that:
“Iran may ask for help, but Moscow will not enter into a conflict with the US over Tehran”.
Putin is apparently trying to avoid an escalation with Israel and the West in order to maintain strategic flexibility, particularly with regard to Donald Trump, who is currently holding back on new anti-Russian sanctions.
Instead of fighters, only training aircraft
Despite the agreement announced last year to supply Su-35 fighter jets, Mi-28 helicopters and S-400 air defence systems, Iran has received only initial training aircraft. Some of the Russian air defence systems that have already been delivered were destroyed in recent Israeli strikes, but have not been replaced.
Analysts believe that Moscow is either unable or unwilling to share sensitive technology with a partner that has found itself in international isolation.
“Iran is increasingly dependent on Russia and China, but they are using its vulnerability to their advantage,” says Swedish-Iranian economist Tino Sanandaji.
Partnership on the brink – a signal to other allies
This geopolitical moment exposed another problem: Russia’s relations with its allies are purely transactional. Iran is not the first. Moscow has already demonstrated similar indifference in the cases of Armenia (2020, 2023) and Syria (2024), which calls into question Russia’s reliability as a strategic partner.
Political analyst Andriy Kortunov stated bluntly:
“Moscow failed to prevent a large-scale Israeli attack on the country with which it signed a strategic alliance only five months ago.”
