West’s hunt for alternative oil and gas helps Tehran with one official saying ‘Now Russia is the bad guy. Time is on our side’
The Ukraine crisis has strengthened Iran’s hand in its nuclear talks and other dealings with the west by reminding European countries and the Obama administration of its potential as a major alternative energy supplier if Russia cannot be relied upon, officials and analysts in Tehran say.
But even as it attempts to play the Russia card, the government of President Hassan Rouhani is simultaneously stressing closer bilateral ties with Vladimir Putin’s Kremlin as a means of mitigating the impact of US, EU and UN economic sanctions, imposed in the still-unresolved row over Iran’s nuclear programme.