Russia has cemented its alliance with Iran through a new twenty year strategic partnership agreement.

Russian President Vladimir Putin ratified legislation on Monday that establishes a framework for extensive bilateral cooperation across trade, defense, energy and infrastructure sectors. Most notably, it includes a mutual defense clause preventing either nation from providing assistance to any third party engaged in military conflict with the other.

Both Moscow and Tehran have framed the partnership as a strategic response to mounting sanctions from the West.

“We are at the apex of collaboration with Russia in the history of our 500-year-old relationship,” Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi wrote on X. “This does not mean that the two countries recognize the legitimacy of the sanctions, but they have designed their economic cooperation in such a way that even in the presence of sanctions, they can achieve desirable results.”

Western security officials already tracking Iran’s military aid to Russia in its brutal war against Ukraine warn their alliance threatens stability in the Middle East. Since 2022, Tehran has provided thousands of Shahed drones used in attacks against Ukrainian civilian infrastructure and short-range ballistic missiles to bolster Russia’s arsenal. Iranian technical assistance has also enabled Russia to establish domestic production capabilities for suicide drones, now manufactured under the designation “Geran-2.”

In June, Putin signed a similar defense-oriented partnership with North Korea. That agreement has reportedly led to Pyongyang deploying up to 12,000 troops to Russian territory to defend against Ukrainian cross-border operations in Russia’s Kursk Oblast.