Putin has no intent to help Iran harm the Gulf Kingdoms or Israel, both of which remain close to Russia to this day, and only wants to help Iran deter US aggression.
The Financial Times (FT) reported that Russia has been secretly helping Iran develop its own ramjet propulsion system since 2023, which is required for cruise missiles that the FT’s contributors claimed would primarily be used to hit regional US military targets at land and at sea. The outlet alleged that Russia also didn’t fully share this technology with Iran but instead provided indispensable technological feedback for perfecting Iran’s indigenous designs that have yet to be completed and used in combat.
Earlier this summer, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov denied that his country was arming Iran amidst the Third Gulf War, harshly retorting that “it is embarrassing to even hear that.” His remarks were analyzed here at the time, but the social media discourse about them among most online “Non-Russian Pro-Russian” (NRPR) community was that he was “playing 5D chess to psyche out the Americans and Zionists.” Some now believe that the FT’s report vindicates their conspiracy theory, but that’s not true.
Reported Russian-Iranian cruise missile cooperation isn’t the same as sending weapons during wartime. Russia’s close relations with the Gulf Kingdoms always made it unlikely that Moscow would give Iran arms that could then be used against them. The same goes for Israel, which Putin has a soft spot for as proven by this collection of quotes about it between 2000-2018 from the official Kremlin website. Russia might be giving Iran targeting intelligence for regional US bases, however, as argued here and here.
Nevertheless, a quip by Putin to his Iranian counterpart on the sidelines of the latest SCO leaders’ summit convinced the NRPRs that Russia really is sending weapons to Iran during wartime. In his words, “During this difficult period, we try to render the necessary support to you. We have discussed your needs with you and continue to provide the goods and commodities you require.” It’s clear that Putin is talking about goods and commodities, not weapons, so the strategic calculations above still hold true.
Having clarified the reality of Russian-Iranian cooperation amidst the Third Gulf War, it’s now time to segue into a brief discussion of the strategic calculations inherent in their reported cruise missile cooperation, which arguably appears to be real. Russia has always believed that the US’ regional military presence poses the greatest threat to Iran, not the Gulf Kingdoms nor Israel, the latter of which would struggle to fight a sustained aerial war against Iran on its own without American backing.
In the spirit of Russia’s strategic partnership with Iran and with a view towards deterring US aggression, Putin therefore likely authorized his country’s scientists to provide indispensable technological feedback to their Iranian counterparts’ ramjet propulsion system required for cruise missiles. Despite the over half-year-long hostilities of the ongoing Third Gulf War, he didn’t secretly authorize the transfer of Russian cruise missiles that could be disguised as Russian-assisted but indigenously built Iranian ones.
The takeaway is that Putin has no intent to help Iran harm the Gulf Kingdoms or Israel, both of which remain close to Russia to this day, and only wants to help Iran deter US aggression. If his intentions were otherwise, then Russia would have already secretly transferred cruise missiles and other arms to Iran for use against them. This “politically inconvenient” truth will probably be ignored by most NRPRs, however, who’ve been brainwashed by top influencers into believing that Putin is an anti-Zionist who hate Israel.
"Putin has no intent to help Iran harm the Gulf Kingdoms or Israel, both of which remain close to Russia to this day, and only wants to help Iran deter US aggression."
The above is the equation that, simply put, cannot be balanced.
As for "soft spots", they have a tendency to transform, or should I say mutate, into Achilles' heels.
Impossible to know exactly how Putin is managing Russia’s interests vis a vis Iran, Israel and the GCC. Russians make up close to 15 percent of Israel’s population and Putin and Netanyahu have met several times with Putin visiting Israel some years ago as a guest of Netanyahu. That being said Iran’s independence is of greater strategic importance to Russia, than its relationship with Israel or the GCC countries. While Iran is technically at war with the GCC, its main attacks to date have been mainly at U.S. bases and not industrial or civilian targets in neighboring countries. The goal is to try and contain the regional war while driving the U.S. out. It’s certainly possible that Russia is aiding Iran in its war against the U.S. while cautioning it against destroying Russia’s other allies in the region.