Why Putin and Iran Need Each Other as Russia Backs Tehran Amid Rising Pressure

Iran and Russia are drawing closer because both governments “need each other desperately,” an expert told News Media on Wednesday, shortly after Russian President Vladimir Putin publicly signaled support for Tehran’s leadership.

Putin was seen shaking hands Tuesday with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian during talks held on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Summit in Kyrgyzstan. According to a Kremlin readout of the meeting, Putin said, “Russia is standing in full solidarity with the people of Iran.”

“We admire your courage and resilience in your fight for your national interests,” Putin said, adding, “Please convey my regards and words of sincere support to Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic Mojtaba Hosseini Khamenei.”

Retired U.S. Air Force Gen. Philip Breedlove, who previously served as NATO’s top commander, told News Media that “this relationship between Iran and Russia is growing” because “they both need each other desperately.”

“In the grand scheme of things, they are both ‘broke.’ I’m using others language here, but the bottom line is they are hurting economically,” Breedlove said. He added that Russia urgently needs Iran to help produce missiles after Ukrainian attacks damaged Moscow’s missile-making capacity, while Iran “desperately needs Russian targeting and intelligence to continue to attack Americans in the Middle East.”

“Russia is transferring capability, transferring, in larger terms, technologies that enable Iran, and frankly, they’re sort of helping to prop up the religious leaders of Iran,” Breedlove added.

Jason Brodsky, the policy director of United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI), told News Media that “Iran and Russia have had a long-time partnership that is strategically important for both countries.”

“Russia views Iran as a cudgel to use against America, and Iran has in recent years especially viewed Russia as a lifeline with respect to advancing its military, providing economic support, providing political support, most importantly at the U.N. Security Council as Russia is a permanent member. So that’s how the partnership serves both countries’ interests,” he said.

Breedlove also said the U.S. war with Iran has now “turned into almost more a test of will than it is a military test.” Both the U.S. military and Iran have been trading aerial strikes in recent days.

“The U.S. has established basically air and sea dominance, but because of the U.S.’ decision early in the war that they were not going to put boots on the ground, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps knows that they’re going to survive. And Iran’s IRGC, in their mind, understand clearly that they don’t have to win this war,” Breedlove told News Media.

“All they have to do is survive and continue to threaten” the Strait of Hormuz, which will drive up maritime insurance rates and cause “all kinds of problems with carriers,” he continued.

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“So we have a test of wills, a nation that can militarily end the war, should it make some more drastic decisions about how to get after the IRGC and a nation that understands it doesn’t have to win, it just has to survive, because its harassment of the strait will cause prices to go so high on transit that it’s going to be a problem for the world economy,” Breedlove said.

Brodsky told News Media that he believes there is “no diplomatic happy ending” for the U.S.-Iran war “as long as the Iranian regime is in power.”

“It is fundamentally anti-American to its core and that imperils any kind of diplomatic arrangement or negotiating process that the United States and Iran undertake,” he said. “I think we’ve seen in President Trump’s comments that he has grown exasperated with diplomacy with the Islamic Republic, and rightfully so.”

During their meeting Tuesday, Pezeshkian told Putin, “We are grateful to you for the stance you have adopted during the war, the conflicts, the U.S. sanctions and all the rest,” according to the Kremlin.

“Our relations are of a strategic nature. This is more than just ‘normal’ relations,” Pezeshkian reportedly added. “We believe – no, we are certain that thanks to this we can stand up against U.S. bias and the rightless sanctions they are imposing on us.”

Breedlove said to News Media following the Putin-Pezeshkian meeting that “the world has a problem with Russia, and for almost 25 or 30 years we tried to make a friend or at least a cooperative entity out of Russia.”

“We wanted to embrace them and bring them into the Western fold and so forth. And now we are clearly understanding based on what they’re doing for Iran and what they are doing in their illegal and immoral war in Ukraine, we now understand that Russia does not want to be a part of the Western world,” he said.

“Mr. Putin has this vision of three spheres of influence. Mr. Xi [of China] takes care of Eastern Asia. Russia takes care of Western Asia and Europe, and the United States should remain in the Western Hemisphere. And that’s what he’s pushing us to,” Breedlove continued. “And the bottom line is, in respect to Iran and in respect to Ukraine, Mr. Putin is going to do nothing until someone shows him steel. He understands power. Rhetoric doesn’t do anything with Mr. Putin.”

“Sanctions have never changed Mr. Putin’s battlefield actions,” he said, “so the West is going to have to figure out exactly what they’re going to do to Mr. Putin.”