Iran war: Why is Russia not coming to Tehran’s aid?

Iran War: Why is Russia not coming to Tehran’s aid?

Amid escalating US-Israeli strikes, the Iranian regime—facing dwindling global allies—has placed heavy reliance on Moscow’s backing. Yet, the support from Russia has fallen short, leaving Tehran frustrated. Just hours after Israeli and American bombs targeted the capital on Saturday, Russia’s UN envoy, Vassily Nebenzia, condemned the actions as “an unprovoked act of armed aggression against a sovereign and independent UN member state.”

“The North-South transport corridor is one of them — especially since Russia was cut off from its traditional transit routes after starting the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022,” explained Nikita Smagin, an Azerbaijan-based expert on Russia and the Middle East.

The corridor, a 7,200-kilometer (4,473 miles) multi-mode trade route, was signed in 2000 by Russia, India, and Iran, passing through Azerbaijan. The Gulf Research Center in Saudi Arabia reports that 75% of the project is complete. Despite this, experts suggest Russia has not moved to directly assist Iran in its current crisis.

“Iran has been useful for the Russian war effort, even if the production [of drones] has now largely been indigenized to Russia, which has improved their design,” said Julian Waller, research analyst at the Center for Naval Analyses in the US.

Iran has supplied Russia with Shahed drones since 2023, significantly influencing the Ukraine conflict. However, Russia’s partnership with Tehran is rooted in strategic interests rather than ideological alignment. “Russian politicians don’t particularly like Iran,” Smagin noted, “but they view Tehran as a reliable strategic partner, as both countries face international sanctions—unlike Turkey or Egypt, which might halt trade with Russia if pressured by the West.”

Gregoire Roos, from Chatham House in London, posits that Tehran has even taken on a mentoring role for Moscow. “Iran has had the significant experience of bypassing international sanctions for many years and has been providing Russia with advice on how to circumvent them,” Roos said.

Experts like Mojtaba Hashemi argue that the Iranian regime miscalculated its dependence on Russia. “This included expanded military-technical cooperation, intelligence sharing, and sending a clear deterrent message to its enemies—not just verbal support,” Hashemi explained, highlighting that Russia and China’s support has remained limited to weapons and tools of repression.

“Skepticism about relying on Moscow has long existed in Tehran. As former Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad once said, ‘Russia has always sold out the Iranian nation,’ and President Masoud Pezeshkian after the 12-day war (June 2025) noted that ‘countries we considered friends did not help us during the war.'”

A prolonged conflict in Iran could benefit Russia, according to Roos. “The media oxygen would grow thinner for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, as everything shifts focus to Iran and the risk of escalation,” he said. “Additionally, Washington could not afford to sustain its aggressive posture indefinitely.”