Eli Lake, Columnist

Trump Team Aims to Test Russia's Alliance With Iran

What would Moscow gain by cutting off Tehran? The U.S. hopes to find out.

January 24, 2017 at 2:49 PM UTC

Eli Lake is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering national security and foreign policy. He was the senior national security correspondent for the Daily Beast and covered national security and intelligence for the Washington Times, the New York Sun and UPI.

Iran's foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, and his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov.
Photographer: Fatih Aktas/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

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As the Trump administration begins planning its outreach to Moscow, one question for the new president will be whether he can persuade Russia to turn away from Iran.

The two countries have grown closer since 2015, when a group of nations lifted some sanctions on Iran in exchange for more transparency about its nuclear program. Russia sells Iran advanced air defense systems, and Iran provides its officers and militias to conquer the Syrian towns and cities indiscriminately bombed by Russian aircraft.