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High-level contacts between the Russian leadership and commanders of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) are causing concern in the Middle East.
The commander of the IRGC's Quds Force, General Qassem Soleimani, was in Moscow last month. According to American officials, he met President Vladimir Putin and Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu.
The Quds Force is Iran's main organ of influence over the conflicts in the Middle East, supplying arms and military advice to the Assad regime in Syria, to Hizbollah and Hamas as well as to the Houtis in Yemen and the Shia militias fighting in Iraq.
While Quds is officially recognised as a terror organisation by the United States and its commander General Soleimani is subject to travel sanctions, he had no trouble travelling on a scheduled flight from Tehran to Moscow.
US Secretary of State John Kerry has said the nuclear deal with Iran will not change Quds' designation and the sanctions placed on it, but the meetings in Moscow confirm fears that Iran is now being seen as a legitimate partner in forming the region's future.
A senior Israeli official who closely watches Russian affairs said General Soleimani's visit to Moscow was "a signal that the regional balance and alignments are all shifting right now and Putin is acting quickly to adapt to the new situation and ensure Russia's interests.
"He sees the Americans are eager now to work with Iran and wants to get in there first."
Another sign of Russia's involvement was an invitation last week to Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal to visit Moscow.
Russia is also eager to engage Iran as part of an agreement to end the Syrian civil war and preserve at least in part the Assad regime which it has continued to back, despite the terrible human toll on Syria's population.
In Moscow this week, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov held talks with Saudi Arabia's foreign minister, Adel al-Jubeir, in an attempt to gain Riyadh's support for a plan for more moderate Syrian rebel groups - who have Saudi backing - to enter a truce with the regime in the interest of a joint struggle against Daesh.
The Saudis, however, continue to object to an expansion of Iran's influence in Syria and therefore refused the Russian proposals.
The real argument between the sides is less over the survival of President Bashar al-Assad himself, but whether a Russian and Iranian-backed group, bolstered by the presence of Lebanese Shia militia Hizbollah, will control Syria on the day after, or will it be a looser coalition of rebel groups supported by the Saudis, Turkey and the West.
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