During a televised interview on Feb. 5, President Hassan Rouhani commented on Iran’s international relations, asserting that there will be a new dynamic in Iran-Russia relations. Although Rouhani's government is in general pursuing the objective of improving relations with immediate neighbors, there is no doubt that Russia occupies a special position in Tehran's regional and international strategy.

Diplomatic exchanges between the two sides have been on the rise since Rouhani attended the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit in Bishkek in September 2013. In fact, Russian President Vladimir Putin is planning to soon visit Iran to further consolidate this new era in relations.

To gauge the outlook for these developing ties, one needs to understand the motivations on both sides. Russia and Iran have had a rivalry as well as occasional cooperation throughout the past century. For Russia, and previously the Soviet Union, Iran was never a close ally or a client state. In turn, Tehran was never able to develop a trusting relationship with Moscow. Nonetheless, geographical proximity, shared regional interests and the geopolitics of energy have connected the two states on strategic, energy-related and regional issues.

The latest common interest pushing the two powers closer is Syria. Both governments view the developments there as a precursor of a redistribution of power in a new Middle East. Thus, it came as no surprise that in a Feb. 4 meeting between Adm. Ali Shamkhani, secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, and Yevgeny Lukyanov, deputy secretary of the Security Council of Russia, the two sides announced that they want to promote relations in the “security and economic spheres.” Notwithstanding this desire, it will require a major effort to advance on common ground amid their overall interests. Leaving aside historical tensions, there are a number of current issues potentially producing strains between the two sides.