DA RUSSIA'S MOMENT
Iranian efforts to give substance to the peace talks
have reached Moscow. What might the Russian Federation gain by supporting its
Asian neighbour?
By Sidney Hey
The news of Moscow’s intervention in the critical situation in the Strait
of Hormuz was predictable, almost a matter of strategic logic. The arrival of
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi in St Petersburg and his visit to the
Kremlin to meet with President Vladimir Putin has been a crucial step towards
laying the foundations for a settlement that will bring an end to the war
initiated by Israel and the US.
Araghchi began a tour of Oman, continuing on to
Pakistan, with his final and most important destination being the Russian
Federation, with the sole aim of finding a diplomatic solution, demonstrating
the Islamic Republic’s commitment to peace over the irrational and immoral
warmongering of Washington and the Zionist entity. Undoubtedly, this facilitates
bilateral talks and opens an alternative channel of dialogue to the one that
has been attempted with the Americans and their wayward president.
For Tehran, this is a new diplomatic victory that
reinforces the one achieved on the battlefield and further strengthens the
strategic relations established with Russia. There is no doubt as to who stands
on the side of legality and who does not. An aggressor can never be considered
legitimate in their actions precisely because of the nature of those actions.
In the case of Israel and the US in the role of aggressors, this is very clear.
The aims they sought with their treacherous attack are far from justified and
are, in fact, the clearest example of what constitutes aggression in its
fullest sense.
Araghchi’s visit not only opens up new possibilities
for Iran, but also provides significant and highly interesting insights into
tactical and strategic manoeuvres involving the use of missiles in a real-world
theatre of operations. It is true that the Russians already have four years of
their own experience against NATO in Ukraine, but there is one striking fact
that stands out in the war in the Persian Gulf: the US is the direct aggressor.
As has been the case for the past fifty years, the
strategy of communications control accompanying the attacking forces has not
been absent from the aggression against Iran. Even the Islamophobic and
anti-Iranian narrative is quite long-standing; to be precise, it dates back to
February 1979. The Western media, led by the Americans, have since played a
despicable and villainous role in creating narratives to deliberately deceive
their audiences, with an aim far removed from altruism, objectivity and, of
course, the truth. We saw it used against Iraq in 1990 and 2003 to justify the
invasion and occupation; we saw it used against Afghanistan in 2001 to explain
the intrusion and the ill-fated 20-year occupation; they used it against
Gaddafi in Libya in 2011 to remove him and destroy his country; we have seen
them furiously imaginative against Russia since 2022, when, following
continuous provocations by NATO, the Russians were forced to enter Ukraine to
protect the Russian-speaking inhabitants of the Donbass; and likewise in many
other situations where it was necessary to cover for the small but highly
damaging state of Israel. Fortunately, this web of lies is unravelling in
tandem with the rise of American power.
The military asymmetry between the Islamic Republic and the US is more than striking, but this does not daunt the government in Tehran or the Iranian people themselves, and that is something Moscow would do well to grasp, however trivial it may seem. In a war, it is not only the power of weapons and lethality that counts. Moral superiority is essential to keep a people standing in the face of a combination of insults, sanctions and direct aggression. Continuing with the theme of asymmetry, this is also evident between the Iranian and Russian forces, which makes it highly pertinent for Moscow to draw closer to this neighbour, which today faces none other than the great global destabiliser and covert sponsor of the neo-Nazi regime in Kiev.
Of course, it is in the Russian Federation’s interest
to stabilise the Middle East, all the more so when attacks could affect its
security. We saw this with the Israeli attack on the port on the Caspian Sea,
in which Russian assets were involved. Likewise, Vladimir Putin does not lose
sight of the geopolitical complexity of the Turkic region, characterised by the
tangled web of relations (particularly military ones) with Tel Aviv, with
Azerbaijan as the key player.
Tehran is also imparting a very valuable lesson to the
world, but especially to regional players such as Russia, namely that red lines
must be respected, even by the US. Indeed, following the treacherous attack on
28 February which led to the cowardly murders of the little girls in Minab, the
sinking of the unarmed vessel ‘IRIS Dena’ in the port of Sri Lanka, and the
assassination attempt on the spiritual leader Ali Khamenei the government, the
armed forces and the Iranian people united in a determination that has resulted
in thwarting and repelling the Israeli-American attempt to install a puppet
regime and seize control of the Strait of Hormuz. This is no small feat for a
nation that has endured for decades all manner of trade sanctions, clandestine
subversive operations and terrorist attacks sponsored by Israel and the US. The
Iranians have learnt a great deal from all this and have incorporated it into
their own resilience.
Indeed, at some point the Russians are keen to take
note of many of these lessons, but there is one that undoubtedly stands out,
and that is the use of tactics and strategies in naval combat and coastal
defence based on the concept of asymmetry, something not seen for decades. This
work has demonstrated the effectiveness of employing electronic warfare
technology and surface-to-air and surface-to-surface missiles, which went
beyond merely thwarting the enemy. It has also been shown how the Iranians have
exploited the strategic advantage of controlling the strait to hold back
aggressors and force the world’s most powerful fleet to remain more than 600
miles from the coast for fear of being sunk.
The Russian navy has its own experience in the Black
Sea and, whilst it has a fleet and naval aviation capable of handling a similar
challenge, it has certainly not faced the level of aggression that the Iranians
have encountered and, most importantly, they have prevailed despite the
assumptions made by many in the Pentagon.
That is why it should come as no surprise to anyone
that Donald Trump picked up the phone to call Vladimir Putin in search of a
trick or some formula that would allow the former to extricate himself from the
hostilities as soon as possible with some guarantee, whilst representing for
Putin an opportunity to reposition the Federation in Western Asia.





