EXCLUSIVE: 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. 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. 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.
It assigns ministries, agencies and state companies responsibility for projects and sets deadlines extending through the end of 2026. PUTIN AND IRAN 'NEED EACH OTHER DESPERATELY,' EXPERT SAYS, AS RUSSIA VOICES SUPPORT FOR REGIME 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.
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. WHY TRUMP IS DOWNPLAYING REPORTS RUSSIA AND CHINA ARE HELPING IRAN "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.
"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. "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. 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." 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.
The Russian document itself does not use the phrase "sanctions evasion." Instead, it repeatedly calls for increased use of national currencies, independent financial channels and measures to counter what Moscow describes as "unilateral restrictive measures." TRUMP THREATENS 'UNPRECEDENTED' ECONOMIC CONSEQUENCES FOR ANY NATION AIDING IRAN Some of the clearest provisions concern how Russia and Iran intended to move 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. 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.
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. 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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