August 06, 2021
On June 18, Ebrahim Raisi won a landslide victory in Iran’s presidential elections. After Raisi’s triumph, Maxim Suslov, the press attaché of the Russian Embassy in Tehran, transmitted a message from President Vladimir Putin congratulating Raisi on his win and pledging to strengthen Russia-Iran bilateral relations. Iranian Ambassador to Russia Kazem Jalali echoed Putin’s comments about Russia-Iran relations and noted that he was the first world leader to congratulate Raisi on his election as Iran’s next president.
Raisi’s victory presents Russia with both opportunities and challenges. Russian officials view him as a friendly figure but are concerned about a potential deterioration of Iran’s relationships with Saudi Arabia and Israel, which could damage Moscow’s balancing strategy. Russian officials are paying even closer attention to the 82-year-old Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s replacement as Iran’s supreme leader, a transition that will likely occur during Raisi’s presidency. While the Russian expert community initially expected changes to Iran’s political system, the consensus in Moscow has pivoted toward the preservation of the status quo in the post-Khamenei era.