Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov held a lengthy round of talks on Tuesday with his Iranian counterpart, Mohammad Javad Zarif, on the latter’s second visit to Moscow in a month.
At the conclusion of the talks, they stressed their determination to expand areas of cooperation between the two countries and work to “protect” the Iranian nuclear agreement.
The two ministers announced during a joint news conference that they were working on a new comprehensive agreement for cooperation between them that would “meet the changes that the world has witnessed in two decades and respond to new threats.”
Lavrov noted that Zarif carried a message from Iranian President Hassan Rouhani to Russian President Vladimir Putin, adding that he had “conveyed the message by phone to the president before the beginning of the talks.”
The Russian minister emphasized the deep relations between the two countries, noting that the positions of Moscow and Tehran “are either identical or very close regarding all the files on the bilateral agenda.”
Lavrov pointed to Moscow’s rejection of the imposition of unilateral sanctions on Iran, which he said were aimed at besieging the country and isolating it commercially and economically.
He reiterated that Moscow has categorically rejected any US attempts to extend or approve a new arms embargo on Iran. He said that the UN Security Council “did not impose any arms embargo on Iran, but rather a temporary system to regulate some exports.”
In response to a question about the situation in the Arab Gulf region, he noted said that his country “adheres to the need to open a dialogue between the regional parties to address contentious files… based on the principle of balance of interests.”
For his part, Zarif praised the Russian stance on Tehran’s nuclear program. He particularly referred to “the positions of Moscow and Beijing within the International Atomic Energy Agency and Security Council.”
He also said that the 2015 nuclear agreement showed that the parties could reach diplomatic settlements for crises.
He stressed Tehran’s desire to enhance cooperation with Russia and China in various fields, underlining the importance that his country commits to the establishment of a new comprehensive agreement for cooperation with Russia.
