Russia Has Plans for Deeper Iran Ties in Finance, Defense, and Nuclear

A Russian government roadmap laid out a broad effort to deepen ties with Iran through alternative financial channels, nuclear cooperation, energy projects, aircraft-component production, and transport routes stretching toward the Persian Gulf.

The 44-page document, titled “Plan for Cooperation Between the Russian Federation and the Islamic Republic of Iran for 2024-2026,” was obtained and reviewed by Fox News Digital.

Marked “For official use,” it was approved on the Russian side on September 2, 2024.

It assigns responsibilities to ministries, regulators, central banks, and state companies, with deadlines extending through the end of 2026.

The document predates the current war involving Iran and the U.S. by more than a year and does not establish which projects remain active.

Several initiatives described in the plan, however, subsequently advanced publicly.

“What is more revealing is the architecture of the relationship Moscow is trying to build,” Keti Korkiya, a research analyst with the Foundation for Defense of Democracies’ Russia program, told Fox News.

Alternative Financial Channels

Finance forms one of the roadmap’s central pillars.

Russia and Iran aimed to increase the share of bilateral trade settled in national currencies from 68% in 2024 to 71% by 2026, while expanding correspondent accounts denominated in their own currencies.

The document also calls for the Bank of Russia and the Central Bank of Iran to develop central bank digital currencies for cross-border settlements and to use “independent systems for transmitting financial messages.”

It does not explicitly identify SWIFT or describe those measures as sanctions evasion.

By February 2025, however, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexei Overchuk said the two countries had “practically completely” shifted bilateral settlements into national currencies using their own financial messaging systems.

Iran’s ambassador to Russia also said Moscow and Tehran no longer needed SWIFT for bilateral banking relations and were linking Iran’s Shetab payment network with Russia’s Mir system.

The roadmap further calls for coordination through BRICS and other institutions against what it describes as “unilateral restrictive measures.”

Nuclear and Energy Cooperation

Russia’s state nuclear corporation Rosatom was assigned continued responsibility at Iran’s Bushehr nuclear power plant, including fuel and maintenance support for Unit 1 and construction associated with Units 2 and 3.

The latter projects predate the roadmap but were incorporated into the wider cooperation framework.

On September 2, 2026, Rosatom said Russian specialists had begun returning to Bushehr ahead of scheduled maintenance and partial fuel replacement at Unit 1.

Nuclear fuel had already been delivered, it said.

The roadmap also identifies the Shadegan, Kish and North Pars oil and gas fields for potential Russian involvement.

Russia’s Energy Ministry and unspecified “interested Russian companies” were given responsibilities, while financing for several projects was marked “Confidential.”

Interfax reported in February 2026 that Russian state-owned ZN-Vostok was developing the Shadegan oil field.

Aircraft Parts Made in Iran

The aviation section goes beyond conventional trade.

Russian authorities were instructed to determine which aircraft parts and assemblies could be repaired or manufactured in Iran, identify capable Iranian companies, and certify selected facilities through aviation regulator Rosaviatsiya.

The roadmap set a March 31, 2026 deadline for a localization agreement and a December 31, 2026 target for prototype production.

Public evidence shows aviation cooperation advanced in related areas.

Rosaviatsiya said in February 2025 that three Iranian companies had been approved to perform maintenance and airworthiness work on Russian-operated aircraft.

Fox News Digital said it had not independently verified that production of Russian aircraft components inside Iran had begun.

Routes Toward the Persian Gulf

The roadmap also seeks to strengthen transport links between Russia and Iran.

One proposal calls for a railway using Russia’s 1,520-millimeter track gauge from Iran’s border with Azerbaijan toward ports on the Persian Gulf.

Moscow separately sought progress on the roughly 162-kilometer Rasht-Astara railway, a missing link in the International North-South Transport Corridor.

Russia and Iran launched engineering surveys for the project in May 2025, though Korkiya said full construction had not begun by late summer 2026.

The roadmap also calls for Iranian investment in port and logistics infrastructure in Astrakhan, including warehouses, grain and vegetable-oil facilities.

Taken together, the document shows Moscow seeking to institutionalize ties with Tehran across finance, nuclear energy, aviation, hydrocarbons and transport.

“That suggests Moscow is trying to turn what could otherwise remain a politically convenient partnership into something more durable and bureaucratically embedded,” Korkiya said.