Russia-Iran research ties have expanded across aerospace, artificial intelligence, nuclear engineering and electronic warfare, growing academic cooperation between the two countries.
By 2025, nearly 10,000 Iranian students were studying at Russian universities, a 42% increase from 2023, reflecting greater Iranian participation at Russian technical institutions following Moscow’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
At the Moscow Aviation Institute, Iranian researcher Ali Mohammad Amouei reportedly worked on small gas-turbine engine technology with potential applications in cruise missiles and drones.
The cooperation involved St. Petersburg State University on methods for measuring uranium and thorium isotope ratios. It says researchers later applied related work to Iranian uranium deposits at Saghand.
Read: Russia Reportedly Aids Iran Supersonic Missile Program
Separately, researchers linked to the Iran University of Science and Technology reportedly studied satellite-navigation systems, including GPS and Russia’s GLONASS, with work involving signal spoofing and detection.
At Bauman Moscow State Technical University, research focuses on computer vision, neural-control systems and autonomous navigation for unmanned aerial and underwater systems.
It also says Iranian co-authored research increasingly replaced some Western academic partnerships at institutions including ITMO University after 2022.
