Introduction: Iran-Russia relations have developed over the past decade in light of regional and international developments. The Comprehensive Strategic Partnership Agreement 2025, represents the enhancement of relations between the two countries within the framework of cooperation based on strategic partnership, which emphasizes common interests and broad opportunities for cooperation in political, economic, military, cultural, scientific and technical fields. In line with the general objectives of the foreign policy goals of governments, defense diplomacy is a source of exercising power to create security, control conflicts, participate in crisis management processes and engage in dynamic interaction in political and defense cooperation. According to the Comprehensive Strategic Agreement between Iran and Russia, strengthening cooperation in the security and defense fields and close coordination of activities at the regional and international levels is part of the strategy and long-term goals of the parties to the agreement. The 20-year Comprehensive Strategic Partnership Agreement between Iran and Russia is a treaty based on mutual relations and principles of cooperation between the two countries which was signed on January 17, 2025, by Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and Russian President Vladimir Putin. The partnership and alignment of Iran and Russia based on this treaty can play an effective role in changing the balance of power, the new regional order and the political and security dynamics of the 'contracting parties.' A Strategic partnership based on shared interests and shared concerns is the essence of this twenty-year agreement, which comprehensively and inclusively encompasses various levels of cooperation and convergence. The formulation of defense-security policy in this treaty is rooted in regional and global geopolitical changes. This treaty reflects the efforts of the two countries to strengthen diplomacy and defense-security ties towards mutual trust, exchange of information, sharing of experiences and management of common military and security threats.
Research question: The main question is: what is the role of artificial intelligence in promoting Iranian and Russian defense diplomacy with an emphasis on the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership Agreement 2025?
Research hypothesis: Based on overarching themes derived from the organizing and foundational themes, the hypothesis is that artificial intelligence is defined as a catalyst for relations between the two countries. Productive artificial intelligence is a type of smart power and can play an effective role in promoting defense diplomacy and securing the fundamental interests of both countries.
Methodology: In this article, using the content analysis method, the main components of Iran-Russia cooperation in the field of defense diplomacy based on the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership Agreement 2025 are examined. Next, the role of artificial intelligence in improving the performance and efficiency of defense diplomacy in order to secure the fundamental interests of the two countries is discussed.
Results and discussion: In the era of modern technologies, one of the influential factors in the evolution of the concept of global power is advanced technology of artificial intelligence, which, by structuring existing datasets, can influence decision-making, planning and intelligent modeling. Artificial intelligence refers to the ability of a machine to automatically perform tasks, including learning, understanding, reasoning, problem-solving, predicting, making decisions and taking action through the application of knowledge and information and data processing, leading to widespread impacts on humans and human relationships in physical or virtual environments, as well as environmental consequences. Artificial intelligence is data-driven, networked, algorithmic, cluster-based, layered and integrated nature, based on classical logic and other modern logics. By examining and analyzing the themes related to defense diplomacy in the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership Agreement, we have identified five overarching themes, including the following: 1. Strategic alliance in improving the regional security environment; 2. Common approach in regional and international interactions; 3. Enhancing defense capabilities; 4. Countering terrorism and counter-terrorist exercises; 5. Developing technology and cybersecurity.
Conclusion: Iranian and Russian defense diplomacy, in light of artificial intelligence and based on the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership Agreement, can outline a clear framework for deepening relations and strengthening bilateral ties between the 'contracting parties' in line with the common interests of the two nations. It can also provide the necessary basis for cooperation and synergy in securing mutual interests and pooling efforts to safeguard regional peace and stability, national sovereignty, national security and territorial integrity in the face of increasing threats and challenges, by explaining and determining effective dimensions in the strategic design of defense policy-making and the development of future military and defense technology. In this context, artificial intelligence, as a technical tool and strategic assistant, has a high capacity to promote defense diplomacy and secure the fundamental interests of the two countries in political and diplomatic, security and defense and scientific and technological fields based on smart power, through data and document analysis, intelligent prediction and decision-making, scenario simulation, secure communication and secure coding, optimizing resource allocation in key defense, military and security sectors, modeling structural equations, identifying threats, generating policy recommendations and discovering innovations, evaluating decision-making results and performances and increasing operational efficiency.