An official Russian document obtained and reviewed by Fox News reveals how Moscow sought to deepen its relationship with Iran to bypass US sanctions, laying out plans for alternative financial channels, nuclear cooperation, Iranian production of Russian aircraft components, well as open new financial avenues. The 44-page Russian-language document was approved on the Russian side on Sept. 2, 2024. It indicated that Russia had drawn up a comprehensive plan for the period 2024-2026, which included the creation of alternative financial channels, the use of national currencies in transactions, strengthening nuclear cooperation, projects in the oil and gas sectors, the production of spare parts for Russian aircraft in Iran, and the continuation of the operation of the Bushehr nuclear power plant by Rosatom. The roadmap also calls for Russia to help establish production in Iran of individual parts and assemblies for Russian aircraft. Russian authorities were instructed to determine which aircraft parts could be repaired or manufactured in Iran, identify Iranian companies capable of producing them, certify selected sites through Russia’s aviation regulator Rosaviatsiya and conclude a localization agreement, according to Fox News. The document also proposed building a railway line from the Iranian border with Azerbaijan to ports on the Arabian Gulf. However, it remains unclear which of these projects are still being implemented, given the changes brought about by the current war. Russia has maintained close ties with Iran for years, but those relations have intensified since Russia's invasion of Ukraine. US reports say Iran has provided drone support to Russia, but Tehran has categorically denied them. This cooperation was further strengthened as the US exerted pressure on Iran through economic sanctions, amid reports that Moscow had offered Tehran assistance in the production of cruise missiles. Keti Korkiya, a research analyst with the Foundation for Defense of Democracies’ Russia program, reviewed the document for Fox News Digital and said its significance lies less in any single project than in the architecture Moscow was trying to build around the relationship. “The roadmap is not revelatory: people paying close attention to the relationship between Russia and Iran will see many collaborations between the two countries that have been public for years,” Korkiya said in written analysis provided to Fox News Digital. “What is more revealing is the architecture of the relationship Moscow is trying to build,” she said, pointing to financial mechanisms, transportation routes, energy investment and aviation cooperation as different ways of reducing vulnerabilities created by sanctions and Western economic pressure.
