Nonpublic 2024-2026 roadmap shows Moscow and Tehran building financial, energy and industrial ties, creating new channels for trade and cooperation as both face mounting Western sanctions.
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Moscow → show → sanctions
A nonpublic Russian government document obtained and reviewed by Fox News Digital reveals how Moscow sought to deepen its relationship with Iran far beyond conventional trade — laying out plans for alternative financial channels, nuclear cooperation, Iranian production of Russian aircraft components, major energy projects and new transportation routes stretching toward the Persian Gulf.
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Moscow → obtain → Gulf
The 44-page Russian-language document, titled "Plan for Cooperation Between the Russian Federation and the Islamic Republic of Iran for 2024-2026," is marked "For official use" and was approved on the Russian side on Sept. 2, 2024.
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document → title → Sept.
It assigns ministries, agencies and state companies responsibility for projects and sets deadlines extending through the end of 2026.
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It → assign → 2026
The document predates the current war involving Iran and the United States by well over a year, meaning it does not establish which projects remain active or how the conflict may have altered Moscow’s plans.
But an independent review of the Russian-language document, along with subsequent public reporting, shows that a number of initiatives described in the roadmap later advanced or materialized.
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number → predate → roadmap
Keti Korkiya, a research analyst with the Foundation for Defense of Democracies’ Russia Program, reviewed the document for Fox News Digital and said its significance lies less in any single project than in the architecture Moscow was trying to build around the relationship.
"The roadmap is not revelatory: people paying close attention to the relationship between Russia and Iran will see many collaborations between the two countries that have been public for years," Korkiya said in written analysis provided to Fox News Digital.
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Korkiya → review → Digital
"What is more revealing is the architecture of the relationship Moscow is trying to build," she said, pointing to financial mechanisms, transportation routes, energy investment and aviation cooperation as different ways of reducing vulnerabilities created by sanctions and Western economic pressure.
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she → try → sanctions
"These are nonpublic high-level documents that illustrate the comprehensive cooperation between Russia and Iran," a European intelligence source who reviewed the material told Fox News Digital.
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who → illustrate → Digital
"It is also strategic, sensitive and highly politicized, focusing on areas like nuclear programs, energy trade and financial transactions that aim to evade the U.S. sanctions," the source said.
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source → politicize → sanctions
A U.S. official, responding on background to questions from Fox News Digital about the financial provisions, said U.S. sanctions have "severely isolated Russia and Iran from the international financial system," adding that efforts by the two countries to develop alternative financial channels and other sanctions-evasion schemes were therefore "not surprising."
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efforts → respond → countries
The official said Washington closely tracks attempts by sanctioned jurisdictions to develop alternative cross-border payment mechanisms and would seek to disrupt those that facilitate sanctions evasion or illicit finance.
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that → say → evasion
The Russian document itself does not use the phrase "sanctions evasion."
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document → use → phrase
Instead, it repeatedly calls for increased use of national currencies, independent financial channels and measures to counter what Moscow describes as "unilateral restrictive measures.
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Moscow → call → measures
"
BUILDING FINANCIAL CHANNELS OUTSIDE WESTERN SYSTEMS
Some of the clearest provisions concern how Russia and Iran intended to move money.
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Russia → build → money
The plan set a target of increasing the share of bilateral trade conducted in national currencies from 68% in 2024 to 71% by 2026, while also seeking to expand correspondent accounts denominated in national currencies.
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plan → set → currencies
More ambitiously, the roadmap calls for the Bank of Russia and the Central Bank of Iran to develop the use of central bank digital currencies for cross-border settlements.
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Bank → call → settlements
Another provision calls for "ensuring the use of independent systems for transmitting financial messages," including connecting financial institutions to independent channels for exchanging financial information.
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provision → call → information
The document does not identify which messaging system would be used or explicitly state that the goal was to bypass SWIFT or U.S. financial controls.
But some of that financial integration later became public.
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some → identify → integration
In February 2025, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexei Overchuk said Russia and Iran had "practically completely" shifted bilateral settlements into national currencies using their own systems for transmitting financial and banking messages.
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Russia → say → messages
Interfax, a Russian news agency, reported that the effort was part of a broader push toward independent payment infrastructure between the two countries.
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effort → report → countries
Iran’s ambassador to Russia also said in February 2025 that Tehran and Moscow no longer needed SWIFT for bilateral banking relations and were using their own confidential bank-messaging systems.
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Tehran → say → systems
He said the initial phase of linking Iran’s Shetab payment network with Russia’s Mir system had begun the previous year.
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phase → say → system
Korkiya said the significance of those measures is cumulative.
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significance → say → measures
"Individually, none of these initiatives is transformative," she wrote.
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she → write → initiatives
"Collectively, however, they amount to an attempt to remove single points of vulnerability and build redundancy into the Russia-Iran economic relationship.
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they → amount → relationship
The financial effort is paired with a political one.
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effort → pair → one
The roadmap calls for Russia and Iran to coordinate through BRICS and other international institutions against "unilateral trade restrictions," while another provision proposes studying ways to counter "unilateral restrictive measures" and their impact on global markets.
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provision → call → markets
Korkiya said that goes beyond simply finding workarounds.
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that → say → workarounds
"Especially interesting is that the roadmap also goes beyond practical sanctions workarounds and includes an effort to build an intellectual and diplomatic campaign against sanctions themselves," she wrote, citing plans for expert communities, discussion platforms and an international forum focused on unilateral restrictions.
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she → go → restrictions
A U.S. official told Fox News Digital that financial institutions and intermediaries enabling sanctions evasion expose themselves to "significant sanctions risks," adding that Washington would continue working with partners to "identify, expose and disrupt these networks wherever they emerge."
The official also pushed back on the idea that alternative Russia-Iran systems could displace Western financial infrastructure.
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systems → tell → infrastructure
"Russia and Iran can try to build alternative financial channels, but they cannot replicate the reach, liquidity or trust of the U.S. dollar and the international financial system," the official said.
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official → try → dollar
"Their efforts will not weaken the effectiveness of U.S. sanctions."
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efforts → weaken → sanctions
The financial architecture sits alongside another strategically sensitive pillar of the relationship: civilian nuclear energy.
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architecture → sit → relationship
The plan assigns Russia’s state nuclear corporation Rosatom continued responsibility at Iran’s Bushehr nuclear power plant, including fuel and maintenance support for Unit 1 and continuing construction work associated with Units 2 and 3.
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plan → assign → Units
The cooperation did not remain solely on paper.
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cooperation → remain → paper
On Sept. 2, 2026, Rosatom said Russian specialists had begun returning to Bushehr, that Unit 1 was preparing for scheduled maintenance and partial fuel replacement, and that nuclear fuel had already been delivered to the site.
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fuel → say → site
Rosatom also said work was continuing on the plant and that additional Russian specialists were expected to arrive.
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specialists → say → plant
Korkiya noted that the Bushehr Units 2 and 3 project predates the 2024 roadmap, meaning the document did not originate that cooperation but rather incorporated an existing strategic project into the broader Russia-Iran framework.
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document → note → framework
"Such strategies and protocols confirm that Russia and Iran are closely aligned countries, and Russia almost certainly continues and aims to increase its current cooperation with Iran also in 2026," the European intelligence source said.
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source → confirm → 2026
Fox News Digital sought comment from Rosatom on the document and the current status of its work in Iran.
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Digital → seek → Iran
…and 39 more, not listed.
The Aporia
