Turan Research Center

Over the past few months, Russia has been actively engaged in mediation efforts from Israel to Syria to Iran, trying to prevent an already unstable region from devolving into wider conflict.

On January 28, Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa paid a visit to Moscow, following a similar trip in October. Two days later, Iranian top national security official Ali Larijani met Russian President Vladimir Putin in the Kremlin as Iran scrambled to stave off new U.S. threats of attack over Iran’s nuclear and missile programs. Earlier in January, Putin held phone calls with the leaders of Israel and Iran, offering Russian help at preventing a new war between them at a time when Iran had been convulsed with internal protests and was cracking down forcefully on widespread opposition to the regime.

Iranian president Masoud Pezeshkian told Putin at the time that Iran was seeking to return calm to the country, according to the Kremlin’s account of the call. The parties also reaffirmed their mutual commitment to further strengthening the Russian-Iranian strategic partnership and the practical implementation of joint economic projects in various fields.

Read the full article on the Stimson Center.

Emil Avdaliani is a Research Fellow at the Turan Research Center.