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Given Mohsen Rezaei’s visit to Moscow and his meeting with President Vladimir Putin, as well as his deputy Ali Bagheri’s trip to China and meeting with Wang Yi, do you think China and Russia have decided to take a more active role in resolving the crisis?
The circumstances surrounding the two countries are certainly different.
Russia’s position is particularly noteworthy because of the relations it has established with Trump over the Ukraine issue. These ties have involved various developments, the latest being Trump’s agreement reached with Putin on supplying Russian diesel to the US market to help bring down fuel and energy prices in the United States.
There have also been understandings over Ukraine. As you know, just a few days ago, Trump’s son-in-law issued a statement on the future of Ukraine and Russia, indicating that they want to largely sideline Europe from the negotiations and reach an agreement with Russia directly to settle the Ukraine issue.
Therefore, Russia is pursuing the issue of Iran through the lens of its own interests in Ukraine.
Putin’s willingness to mediate stems partly from the need for Russia, which has become our ally and stood alongside us, to answer questions about its conduct. At a time when we were facing difficulties with the Americans in the Strait of Hormuz, Russia reached an agreement with Washington and supplied diesel to the market to influence fuel prices. This was certainly not a positive development from Iran’s perspective when assessing Russia’s actions.
That is why, alongside Putin’s recent diplomatic moves, Russia has initiated a series of activities. Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s visit to Tehran and Putin’s own remarks that he had conveyed President Masoud Pezeshkian’s message to the Americans point to a new Russian initiative in the form of mediation.
However, Russia, the United States and the international community all know that Trump would never be comfortable with Putin acting as a mediator or intermediary between Iran and the United States. Trump has made it clear that if there is to be any achievement in this matter, he wants to secure it himself.
Therefore, Russia’s current diplomatic efforts should be viewed as an attempt to make up for what it owes Iran following its conduct in relations with the United States. Ultimately, I do not think Iran will gain anything from these efforts.
We should also pay attention to another important point. When the Foreign Ministry is in contact with Lavrov, the Supreme National Security Council is communicating with Putin, and the deputy secretary of the council for international affairs is travelling to China, this multiplicity of channels of communication is not necessarily beneficial. In many cases, it could lead the other side to draw the wrong conclusions and create the impression that there is no unified voice on foreign policy within Iran.
In practice, we need to establish a situation in which the country speaks with one voice and acts in a coordinated manner. This would also make Russia and China more cautious and help prevent misunderstandings in their diplomatic dealings with Iran.