Between Two Fires: Why Iran Refused to Recognize Crimea as Russian Territory

Between two fires: why Iran refused to recognize Crimea as Russian territory Natalia Belzetskaya

Russia and Iran are to sign an agreement on strategic and comprehensive partnership on January 17. Interestingly, the country has not recognized the annexation of Crimea and other Ukrainian territories.

Iran is pursuing a multi-vector policy. As Russian opposition politician Gennady Gudkov told Channel 24, one of the directions is an attempt to reach an agreement with the United States so that they do not destroy the ayatollah regime.

What Iran really wants

As soon as Donald Trump declared that he would support Israel's heroic struggle for independence, problems immediately began in Iran. Unlike Russia, there is no monolith of power there. Various forces have influence, so Tehran has not yet decided unequivocally whether it wants to expose itself for the sake of the Russians.

In addition, there is an understanding that Israeli planes can fly into their territory and destroy everything, in particular their anti-missile systems. Moreover, they can come back and do it again at any moment.

The country does not want to be in such a position as a target. That is why Iran has sent signals to the US to come to some kind of agreement. For example, they are hinting that they are ready not to produce nuclear weapons and to reduce terrorist activity, – Gennady Gudkov noted.

Of course, Iran has not yet raised the white flag, because there is no specific response from the US either. Considering this, the country maintains relations with Russia. But just in case, he does not go all the way, for example, he does not recognize the occupation of Ukrainian territories.

“The ayatollah regime is in a precarious position. This gives the Iranian policy a certain amount of leeway. Like, we will conclude an agreement with Russia, but we will not recognize Crimea and other regions as Russian, and the clause on defending Russia with its own armed forces is also not applicable,” added the Russian opposition politician.