Publication

This paper elaborates on the 16 August 2016 announcement that Russian fighter jets operated from Iranian air facilities to attack so-called Islamic State (IS) and Jabhat al-Fateh a-Sham targets in Syria. In particular, the text’s authors discuss 1) the significance of this event, given Iran’s past suspicions of Russian motives in the Middle East; 2) why this deployment made operational sense from a Russian perspective; and 3) how this new partnership reflects the steady growth in relations between Moscow and Tehran. Finally, the authors briefly comment on the relevance to Israel of the deployment of Russian jets to Iran.