TITLE:
Russian-Iranian Strategic Partnership in Syria: Converging Interests but Diverging Goals
AUTHORS:
Tan Tan, Mariia German
KEYWORDS:
Russia, Iran, Strategic Partnership, Syrian Crisis, The Middle East
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Political Science,
Vol.12 No.1,
December
30,
2021
ABSTRACT: Strategic partnership is an evolving phenomenon, and there has been no
consensus on its definition. But the academic endeavors by
now manifest some degrees of congruence on the constitutive features of strategic
partnership. This study first generalizes the constitutive features of
strategic partnership. Then through the lens
of these constitutive features, the relationship of Russia and Iran is examined. They have some converging
interests in Syria: the common perception of a Western challenge, a high degree of military-security cooperation, similar economic motivations for their interventions in support of Assad regime, and the geopolitical importance
of Syria to both countries. However, they have diverging goals in Syria
too: serious ideological differences, the instrumentality of Syria in Russia’s
strategy, rivalry for influence, divergent policies to Israel, and potential
competitors as energy suppliers. Thus, in the framework of the Syrian crisis, Russo-Iranian relations are
difficult to characterize as typical strategic partnership. Their relationship
is “tactical rather than strategic” and their interactions are “pragmatic
rather than systematic”.