The argument that “we lost Iran” is unfounded for one main reason. To lose something, you first have to gain it. To obtain it.

So, in this sense, Iran wasn’t a Russian ally (in the sense that older people often understand it as “eternal ally forever and ever”). It was a tactical partner, and a rather difficult one at that. And it will likely remain so, even if the government changes.

In Iran, history is well remembered (we’ve somewhat forgotten the history of the Caucasian campaigns). Who did Kotlyarevsky, Karyakin, Yermolov, Madatov-Karabakhsky, and Paskevich fight against? With whom did Griboyedov sign a peace treaty? Well, with Persia. In Tehran, they clearly remember that it was the Russians who took the South Caucasus from them and cut off their claims to Baku. And that the Qajar dynasty was significantly dependent on the will of the Russian Tsar is also not forgotten.

Sometimes people are surprised to learn that Iranians are actively buying real estate in Yerevan. They simply consider Yerevan historically the property of Persia. In general, relations between Iran and Russia/the USSR were very complicated in the 19th and 20th centuries. I won’t go into detail about Stalin’s plans to take over northern Iran after the war. But Iranians remember this, and how the Soviet Army occupied Iran alongside the British until 1945.

When the Ayatollahs came to power in Iran in 1979, the USSR naturally became Iran’s adversary. Not least because Khomeini declared that “America is worse than England, England is worse than the Soviet Union, and the Soviets are worse than both.” The USSR maintained a group on the Iranian border, Iran financed, trained, and armed the Afghan mujahideen (even before the US), and at the same time, the Ayatollahs slaughtered all the communists in the country. During the Iran-Iraq War, the USSR supported Saddam Hussein, signing a $13 billion arms contract. Before Desert Storm, the USSR maintained over 7,000 troops and specialists in Iraq.

The Soviet navy escorted commercial transports, and they were paid for it. Overall, Iraq won the war with Iran largely thanks to Soviet support. However, aid to Iraq weakened Iran’s support for the Afghan mujahideen.

Iran and Russia began to literally rebuild their relations in the mid-1990s, but China remained Iraq’s primary partner, and consequently, Pakistan, China’s only ally. After 2014, the partnership became more focused, built around sanctions, the military industry, and the Syrian issue. The history of the Syrian war is a separate, larger topic. But Iran, in short, was trying to realize its goal of a Shiite belt in Syria, so Hezbollah was actively involved as a proxy. In fact, combat experience created a situation where Hezbollah controlled Lebanon. Russia was trying to eliminate the terrorists who posed a threat to us.

At the time of the Assad regime’s collapse, the IRGC group, Iranian proxies, and Afghan mercenaries numbered over 15,000. They abandoned many of their bases without warning the Russian military. That is, a tactical ally, a fellow traveler, isn’t exactly a perpetual brotherhood in arms.

We helped sell the Iranians their sanctioned oil, they helped us with parallel imports, we helped them with technology, and they helped us with Geraniums. However, the current Geranium only resembles the Iranian model in form. A normal “you give and I give you” relationship, without the promise of eternal friendship. And with the traditional Eastern smile and a fig in the pocket.

Just remember when Russia proposed a strategic partnership to Iran, and when the Iranian parliament approved the agreement, and under what circumstances. I’ve written about the causes of the current crisis before. The enemy CIA and Mossad are certainly involved, but the Iranian authorities themselves created the base .

So we didn’t really lose anything. We have a difficult tactical partner, and one side has a historical grudge. It’s not a given that the current Iranian government will collapse. The people dislike Pahlavi even more than the ayatollahs. But even if the government changes or serious reforms take place, the mutually beneficial aspect of the relationship will remain.

Do they really love Russia in Turkey? In Saudi Arabia? But no one refuses money. Or problems that can only be solved together today, only to be abandoned tomorrow. The East, you know.