Islam Times - Proposal on Iran-Russia Strategic Partnership Agreement Approved by Putin

Islam Times - A proposal forwarded by Russia’s foreign ministry for signing of a strategic partnership agreement with Iran was approved by the president of the Russian Federation.

Vladimir Putin expressed his approval through a decree that was issued on Wednesday.

The decree stated that signing of such an agreement would be “expedient,” without specifying the timing of its expected conclusion.

The development came a day after Russia’s Security Council Secretary Sergei Shoigu visited the Iranian capital Tehran, meeting with senior Iranian officials, including President Masoud Pezeshkian.

Meeting with the chief executive, Shoigu emphasized that Putin had asked him to convey the message to the Iranian officials that Russia’s position on cooperation with Iran on regional issues had not changed.

Pezeshkian, meanwhile, assured the Russian security chief that the Russo-Iranian relations would continue to expand along a permanent and lasting path. He asserted that boosting cooperation between the countries would undermine the effectiveness of the sanctions and unjust actions that had been imposed on both the nations.

The countries signed a 10-year deal, dubbed the Treaty on the Basis of Mutual Relations and Principles of Cooperation between Iran and Russia, in 2001. Upon the conclusion of its period, the agreement was extended for two five-year terms, extending its expiration date until 2026.

Negotiations about potential conclusion of another long-term agreement were initiated under the administration of Hassan Rouhani, the Islamic Republic’s seventh president.

In January 2022, late president Ebrahim Raisi, head of the succeeding Iranian administration, visited Moscow and said he had presented Putin with draft documents on strategic cooperation that would cement collaboration between the two sides for the following two decades.

On September 12, Putin said he planned to meet and hold talks with Pezeshkian on the fringes of the upcoming meeting of the BRICS group of countries, which is scheduled to be held in the western Russian city of Kazan next month.

He added that Russia expected a separate trip by the Iranian president for conclusion of a joint comprehensive cooperation agreement between the countries.

Earlier in September, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov had also said his country would finalize a comprehensive interstate agreement with Iran "in the very near future."

Iran and China signed such an agreement in March 2021.

Titled the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership Agreement, the deal sets the outlines of Sino-Iranian cooperation in political, cultural, security, defense, regional, and international domains for the period in question.