PROSPECTS FOR RUSSIAN-IRANIAN ENERGY COOPERATION

Abstract

Due to the withdrawal of the United States under Republican President D. Trump in 2018 from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) to resolve the Iranian nuclear crisis, non-Western vector of foreign policy of the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) (China, India, Russia, Turkey and other states) has strengthened. It became particularly apparent with the coming to power of a conservative president close to the Supreme Leader of Iran, Ebrahim (Ibrahim) Raisi. Seeking to escape the foreign policy isolation and financial and economic sanctions pressure created by the United States and its allies, Tehran is increasingly participating in the activities of major international entities such as the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (Iran became a full member of the Organization on July 4, 2023), the Eurasian Economic Union (Interim Free Trade Agreement is in force) and BRICS (a member of the organization since January 1, 2024).Thus, Iran declares itself as a successfully developing regional center of power. The article pays special attention to the development of energy (with Russia, Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan), transport and logistics projects (with Azerbaijan, a railway through Iran to Nakhichevan) with neighboring countries. Under President Raisi new gas and oil fields were discovered. In the future they will ensure greater production and exports. With Russia, Iran in the medium term plans to realize swap gas supplies to Iran through the territory of Turkmenistan, as well as to create a gas hub on the coast of Makran to export its own and Russian energy carriers to the countries of South and Southeast Asia. The government of I. Raisi pays special attention to the development of the Macran Free Economic Zone (FEZ) and the FEZ of Kish Island. At the same time, this is a significant territory not only in geo-economic, transportation and logistics, but also in military terms: the seaports of Chahbehar and Jask are geostrategic at the crossroads of energy communications of the Middle East and South (and further Southeast) Asia.