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Iran, Russia Building "Strategic Partnership"

(New York Post) Amir Taheri - Iran's Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi arrived in Moscow this week after Iran and Russia signed a security treaty last month. A group of officers from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard has also arrived in Russia for a crash course in crowd control and civil unrest. They're expected to return to Iran by May and be "operational" in time for the June presidential election. The new security pact provides for cooperation in intelligence gathering and the fight "against terrorism." It commits Russia to train and equip Iranian security forces to deal with civil unrest. Under the agreement, Moscow will help Tehran create special police units patterned on the 500,000-strong "internal army" controlled by the Russian Interior Ministry. In addition, last week, Iran played host to Russian warships visiting Bandar Abbas on the Strait of Hormuz in what looks like the opening gambit for a Russian naval presence in the strategic waterway. Both Moscow and Tehran see a U.S. strategic retreat under President Obama as an opportunity. They think that with the U.S. out, no other power has the capacity to check their regional ambitions.
2013-02-14 00:00:00
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