On the Horns of Dilemma

Despite Russians’ frequent postponements on running the Bushehr nuclear power plant, Ali Akbar Salehi, Head of the Iranian Organization of Atomic energy has praised Russia’s cooperation saying that the country has even done beyond its commitments. Dr. Ali Bigdeli, university professor and Iran’s foreign affairs analyst has commented on Iran-Russia ties:

If as Iran claims, its relations with Russia are of a strategic nature, minor problems such as the procrastination of Bushehr nuclear power plant construction can not affect the level of the relations. However, Iranian statesmen should know that all the games Russians are playing over the power plant will just harm Iran’s credit in both international and domestic scene, since they prove the vulnerability of our country.

The quality of Tehran-Moscow ties shows that Russians are double crossing Iran. Despite high-profile visits between Putin and Iran’s Supreme Leader or Ahmadinejad’s visit to Moscow and his meeting with Dmitri Medvedev, Russia treats Iran differently when it comes to multilateral relations in the international scene. The country fails to demonstrate the respect Iran deserves in such occasions.

Nevertheless, Iran has no other choice than keeping up relations with Russia. Frequently threatened with military attacks by Israel and the United States, Iran is in need of Russian S300 missiles and its nuclear program calls for Moscow’s UN Security Council veto right. Trapped in such a predicament, Iran is hesitant to complain about the delay in construction of Bushehr nuclear power plant.

The way Russians deal with Iran is not helpful in our negotiations with Five plus One. In fact, Moscow’s unpunctuality and its support for further sanctions against Iran have emboldened Western powers. West now has come to the conclusion that despite all the superficial affinity between Iran and Russia, the latter is a power they can count of if more stringent punishments against Iran are to be implemented.

On the horns of a dilemma, Iran has no choice other than continuing cooperation with Russia, so it would not lose another powerful global partner.