RUSSIA PERSPECTIVE

Moscow, May 12, 2026. Russian-Iranian relations are experiencing what Russian officials call a 'responsible partnership' — phrasing that has diplomatic signaling value in Russian language: it indicates political support without direct military engagement. The Iranian embassy in Moscow and IRNA jointly relayed this statement from a Russian official, stressing that the two countries agree on the illegitimacy of American military operations in the region.

On substance, Russia shares with Iran the critique of what it calls the 'illegal naval blockade' in the Persian Gulf. Iran's representative to the International Maritime Organization denounced the 'illegal seizure of oil tankers and inhumane treatment of crew members' by the American navy — a position Moscow implicitly supports by refusing to vote in favor of American UN resolutions on Hormuz.

This Russian-Iranian convergence is not new, but it takes particular strategic dimension in the current context. Russia, which supplies Iran with military technologies and maintains growing energy ties since 2022 Western sanctions, has an interest in Iran not being militarily crushed by the United States. A defeated Iran would also be a demonstration that resistance to American pressure — including Russian resistance in Ukraine — can be broken by force.

Yet Moscow refrains from any active mediation in the crisis. Unlike Beijing, which plays the role of regional facilitator and engages Pakistan and Qatar in a coordinated diplomatic effort, Moscow stays out of these dynamics. Russia lacks the economic and diplomatic levers of China in the region — neither relationships with Gulf states, nor influence over Pakistan, nor a currency enabling alternative transactions at scale. Its support for Iran is moral and geopolitical, not operational. It is expressed mainly through vetoes and non-votes at the Security Council, which block any UN mechanism of pressure on Tehran.