The United States' designation of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a foreign terrorist organization is the Donald Trump administration's latest effort to exert political pressure on Iran. Moscow, which is allied with Tehran in its support of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, has predictably condemned the move — yet there could be some unexpected benefits for Moscow.

In recent years, Russia and Iran have been partners in the fight against anti-government forces in Syria, but as the military phase of the conflict dies down, the relationship between Moscow and Tehran has grown to be more nuanced if not complicated. Russia thus monitors and weighs in on US-led initiatives concerning Iran with great attention and care.

Rajab Safarov, director of the Moscow-based Center for the Study of Modern Iran, wrote, “Moscow has been in pursuit of constructive engagement with Tehran over Syria and beyond. In fact, for the past five years Russia actively interacted in Syria with the IRGC, now a designated terrorist organization.” 

The main line of Russian criticism of the US decision focuses on the fact that it pushes the Middle East into an even more chaotic state. Similar logic was used to describe Trump’s earlier decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights. Interestingly, however, just as in these other cases, Moscow would never officially mention the Israeli angle in the IRGC designation: Trump’s desire to prop up Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s positions at home has served as a driving force behind some of these White House decisions. Russia is mindful of potentially antagonizing its relationship with Israel, and thus directly targets only the US position.