How the Iran Nuclear Standoff Looks From Russia: Dmitri Trenin
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Feb. 15 (Bloomberg) -- When Russians look at Iran, theysee a country that has been their neighbor and rival forever.As the Russian empire advanced, it wrestled the North andSouth Caucasus from the Shah. Peter the Great annexed,briefly, Iran’s entire Caspian Sea coastline and put hisforces just north of Tehran.
In the early 20th century, Russia and the U.K. dividedIran into zones of influence. The Russians got the north andproceeded to occupy Iran twice, during each of the world wars.When Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Winston Churchill met withJosef Stalin in Tehran in 1943, they were protected by the RedArmy.