Iran will help Russia avoid sanctions, Western analysts warn
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"The Russians are looking for any way to try to avoid the sanctions," Levin warned.
According to senior fellow at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, Emanuele Ottolenghi, the ultimate goals of Russia and Iran are very similar, so cooperation between the two countries will only develop deeper. These are two authoritarian dictatorships that have challenged the international order.
"Iran can use its experience and ingenuity in sanctions evasion techniques, which it has used since the establishment of the Islamic Republic, to help Russia buy things that Iran cannot," Ottolenghi said.
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Iranians and Russians are integrating their own secret supply routes, senior fellow and director of the Hudson Institute's Center for Peace and Security in the Middle East, Michael Doran, stated. He explained that the primary goal of this cooperation is to strengthen the military power of both regimes.
“Russians and Iranians are going to build a plant in Russia to manufacture thousands of strike drones,” Doran said.
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“This means that the Russians are going to use their procurement networks to help the Iranians build better weapons. The Iranians have a very serious industrial defense base, and they are going to become weapons exporters to a relatively significant market.”
On Feb. 5, The Wall Street Journal reported that Moscow and Tehran are deepening military cooperation and are going to build a plant to produce faster Shahed kamikaze drones.
Iran has previously denied supplying the Shahed kamikaze flying bomb drones to Russia, although there is copious evidence these denials are false.
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Russia and Iran continue to develop closer ties in other areas as well. They recently linked their interbank payment messaging systems, paving the way for all Iranian banks to conduct transactions with Russian creditors amidst severe international sanctions on the banking systems of both countries.
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