ABSTRACT
In the study of contemporary politics few interstate relationships have proven more instrumental, controversial, and perplexing to global policy-makers than that which has persisted between Moscow and Tehran since the collapse of the USSR. Alternating between periods of intimate cooperation and serious diplomatic fatigue, the status of Russian–Iranian relations at any given moment has captured the attention of the world community because of its demonstrated importance to global affairs. Moscow's frequent diplomatic support of Tehran alongside of its recurrent transfers of conventional weaponry and nuclear technology have raised important concerns for regional and western leaders who fear that the Islamic Republic's coming of age will have unprecedented consequences for the status quo of relations in the Middle East. Although Russian leaders have often sought to ease international concerns by making public promises both to restrict and/or to monitor the scale of its cooperation with Iran, perhaps just as frequently the Kremlin has defaulted on these same commitments, thereby causing western leaders to question Moscow's role in the global community. The duplicitous nature of Russia's policies toward Iran in the post-Cold War era have only further obscured the answer to whether or not Moscow is, today, a supporter of the global and regional status quo or whether it is, in fact, a revisionist power.
