A 44-page Russian government document obtained and reviewed by Fox News Digital sets out how Moscow intended to bind Tehran to it far beyond ordinary trade. Titled "Plan for Cooperation Between the Russian Federation and the Islamic Republic of Iran for 2024-2026" and marked "For official use," it was approved on the Russian side on Sept. 2, 2024. Ministry by ministry, it names who is responsible for each project and fixes deadlines running to the end of 2026. The areas it covers include independent financial channels, nuclear work, Iranian production of Russian aircraft parts, large energy projects and new transport routes reaching the Persian Gulf. Because the roadmap predates the current Iran-U.S. war by more than a year, it cannot show which projects survive today, though an independent review found that several of its provisions later advanced in public.
The money provisions are the most concrete. The plan aims to lift the share of bilateral trade settled in national currencies from 68% in 2024 to 71% by 2026, asks the two central banks to develop digital currencies for cross-border settlement, and calls for banks to be linked to independent channels for exchanging financial messages. SWIFT is never named and the phrase "sanctions evasion" never appears; the language is instead about countering "unilateral restrictive measures." On nuclear energy, Rosatom keeps fuel and maintenance duties at Bushehr Unit 1 and construction work on Units 2 and 3. On energy, the roadmap names the Shadegan, Kish and North Pars fields while leaving the financing column of several projects marked "Confidential." On transport, it seeks a Russian-gauge railway from the Azerbaijani border toward Gulf ports and revives the Rasht-Astara link missing from the North-South corridor. Overseeing the Russian side is Energy Minister Sergei Tsivilev, married to deputy defense minister Anna Tsivileva, a daughter of Putin's late cousin.