US sanctions pave way for closer Iran-Russia cooperation: Atlantic Council

The wave of US sanctions against Russia amid the Ukraine war has opened new opportunities for Moscow to build an economic alliance with Tehran, another prime target of US hegemonic belligerence, a US-based think tank says.

Emphasizing that the recent punitive multilateral sanctions have put Moscow in a situation that Tehran "has ample experience circumventing their damaging effects”, the Atlantic Council in an article on Thursday said the heightened tensions between the West and Russia have provided Iran with a chance “to maximize its interests and advance its political, economic, and military ambitions.”

"A now heavily-sanctioned Russia may seem a weakened strategic partner for Iran,” it noted, hastening to add that “the imposition of western sanctions and the demonization of Russia may bring Moscow and Tehran closer as mutual enemies of the United States and NATO-led international framework.”

According to the article, the US withdrawal from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) in May 2018 convinced Iranian authorities that the effective lifting of the brutal US-led sanctions would be impossible, prompting them to place “the neutralization of sanctions at the forefront of their agenda” instead.

“This entails expanding relations with other sanctioned countries to guarantee resilient foreign trade,” the article stressed.

Stating that the Ukraine conflict “is fracturing and reformulating the geopolitical and geo-economic dynamics of the world,” the article stressed that Iran views this development “as in its favor.”

“Contrary to the West’s advice that Iran should quickly agree to return to compliance with the JCPOA and seek to replace Russia as a major energy supplier to Europe, Iran is aiming for a role beyond the global energy market to position itself as a critical inter-regional hub,” it read.

The Washington-based think tank went on to reiterate that the imposition of severe sanctions against Russia also marks “the entry of a great power into the club of the internationally excluded,” which could unravel “major opportunities for Iran’s economy, as demonstrated by Moscow and Tehran’s agreement to replace SWIFT with domestic financial messaging systems.”

MG