[nikimcbee]

Originally Posted by CCIP

No, as far as I know, Russia have been looking to distance themselves from Iran for the last few years. They've loudly and publically cancelled several military contracts in the last two years, and have generally been distancing themselves. Their military cooperation is completely frozen and in fact much has been done by Russia to set up military plans and infrastructure for facing Iran as a potentially hostile nation. Russia is just playing politics, trying to seem like the 'voice of reason' and score points with other, more neutrally-disposed countries. While they certainly had a positive relationship with Iran a decade ago, right now their relationship has cooled. They do, however, still stand to lose important trade if they get too 'cold' about Iran.

If you look at other recent situations, be they Libya or Syria or Egypt, Lavrov has been recycling the same "let's sit down, no armed hostility!" line over and over. More than anything, Russia just doesn't like the US and its allies throwing their weight around. It doesn't, however, really care about Iran past a certain extent and could definitely live without the Iranian regime.

Maskirovka?