Opinion: For Putin, Iran is something close to irreplaceable

Vladimir Putin has spent years building a coalition of the discontented on the premise that authoritarian states can outlast Western pressure. Iran is his proof of concept.

Russian President Vladimir Putin chairs a meeting of the Presidential Council for Culture and Art via videoconference at the Kremlin in Moscow, Wednesday, March 25, 2026. (Gavriil Grigorov/Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)