Russia and Iran have been deepening relations, which will culminate in the next month and a half in the signing of a comprehensive partnership between the two countries, but which could compromise the Anglo-American-Backed push by Israel to bomb Iran.
Some of the steps:
• On Nov. 11, at a ceremony in Tehran, Russia and Iran finalized the pairing of the Russian Mir and the Iranian Shetab payment systems. Under the first step of the arrangement, Iranian nationals will be able to use their banking cards in Russian ATMs, and in the second step, Russians will use their banking cards in Iranian ATMs. Finally, Iranian Shetab cards will become acceptable at point of sale terminals installed in Russian stores. But the idea is to extend it so that Tehran could eventually use the Russian Mir system for settlements with other international partners. In parallel, Iran and Russia intend, in the future, to transact and settle trade accounts through a settlement system, which the BRICS is now in the process of discussing and establishing. That would bind the two countries more closely together.
• On Nov. 5, Two Iranian private-sector-built satellites, launched by Russia from its Vostochny Cosmodrome, were “successfully put into orbit.”
• On Oct. 23, in Kazan, on the sidelines of the BRICS Summit, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and Russian President Vladimir Putin held a bilateral meeting, including top cabinet members, in which they stressed such economic objectives as development of the Iranian railway infrastructure, the International North-South Transport Corridor, and Russia’s constructing the second and third nuclear power units at the Bushehr NPP in Iran.
