Why Is Russia Not Helping Iran in the Ongoing Iran-Israel Conflict?

Why Is Russia Not Helping Iran in the Ongoing Iran-Israel Conflict?

 Iran and Israel are currently in direct conflict and continue to attack each other. The end of 2020 saw the fall of Bashar al-Assad's rule in Syria. His departure was not good news for Russian President Vladimir Putin in any way. Now, if Iran also weakens, it would be a major setback for Russia in the Middle East.

This raises several questions about Russia. First, why is Russia not helping Iran? Second, if Iran loses the war with Israel, what impact will it have on Russia?

Let’s first talk about Russia's official position. So far, Russia has shown a balanced and cautious approach toward the Iran-Israel war. While Russia opposes Israel’s attacks on Iran, it is not providing any direct support against Israel.

According to a Reuters report, on the very first day of the conflict—June 13—President Vladimir Putin spoke on the phone with the leaders of both Israel and Iran. He told the Iranian President that Moscow condemns Israel’s actions against Tehran. At the same time, while speaking to Israel’s Prime Minister, he emphasized that concerns about Iran’s nuclear program must be solved through diplomacy only.

A few days later, Russian state news agency TASS reported that Putin also spoke with the UAE President, Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, and expressed Russia’s willingness to mediate between Israel and Iran. So far, it’s clear that Russia wants to solve this issue through diplomacy, not military action.

This brings up the big question: Why is Russia not openly helping its strategic ally Iran?

Dr. Rajan Kumar, Associate Professor at the Centre for Russian and Central Asian Studies at Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi, says the biggest reason is that Russia is already stuck in the Ukraine war. It also doesn’t want to worsen its relations with the United States.

Dr. Rajan explains that if the Ukraine war had not happened, Russia might have fully supported Iran—especially after pulling back from Syria, where Iran became even more important for Russia. Another reason is that Russia itself needs weapons now, so it cannot give much military help to Iran.

Earlier, Russia received some weapons like drones from Iran. But now the situation has changed—Iran needs help. Iran had provided drones to Russia that played a key role in the Ukraine war. Iran also still has some Russian-made weapons like the S-300 defense system.

Now, let’s talk about Russia’s concerns. Why are organizations like the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) and BRICS not stepping forward in support of Iran, even though Iran is a member of both?

Dr. Rajan Kumar says these organizations mainly cooperate at the political and economic levels. They are not military alliances. He explains that BRICS includes democratic countries that don’t want direct confrontation with the West. SCO is somewhat anti-West, but it only issues statements—it does not take military action.

Both Russia and China have economic interests tied to Western countries and don’t want to sacrifice them. If the U.S. imposes secondary sanctions on Russia, countries like India and China would also be affected, and Russia’s economy would suffer a major blow. So, these countries are limiting themselves to just giving statements.