http://lobelog.com/assessing-the-putin-rouhani-summit/#more-38619

Assessing the Putin-Rouhani Summit

by Mark N. Katz
The successful meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani in Moscow on March 28 indicates that the two leaders have similar views not just on Syria, but on several other issues. Still, areas of disagreement between them remain, even when it comes to issues on which they’re broadly cooperative.
Both Rouhani and Putin expressed support for the continuation of the Iranian nuclear accord in spite of the fact that U.S. President Donald Trump and some of his top associates have expressed disapproval of that deal. Putin and Rouhani also expressed their opposition to “unilateral sanctions”—another critical reference to American foreign policy, which has imposed just such sanctions on both of their countries. And the two leaders also expressed their disapproval of cyberattacks, mentioning by name the Stuxnet attack on Iranian nuclear facilities (they did not mention that it was the U.S. and Israel that reportedly launched that attack back in 2010). No mention was made, of course, about whether Russia or Iran conduct cyberattacks on other nations.
Putin and Rouhani both reiterated their commitment to providing anti-terrorist support to Afghanistan as well as to preserving Iraq’s territorial integrity. The American military drawdown from both Afghanistan and Iraq has meant that these problems are now more urgent for both Russia and Iran to either deal with themselves or face the consequences of not doing so. http://lobelog.com/assessing-the-putin-rouhani-summit/#more-38619