Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Iranian counterpart Massoud Pezeshkian may discuss Syria, the Middle East and Iran's nuclear program in Moscow today, Reuters reported, citing a Kremlin statement.
Pezeshkian and Putin are expected to sign a long-awaited strategic partnership agreement that could raise concerns in the West, which believes that both countries have a malign influence on the world stage.
The Kremlin statement noted that relations between Moscow and Tehran "are on the rise and are developing intensively on the basis of mutual respect and consideration of interests."
The leaders are expected to discuss key issues, including events in the Middle East, Syria and the conflict between Israel and “Hamas“, as well as the Caucasus and the Iranian nuclear program.
Earlier, the Russian news agency TASS quoted Iran's ambassador to Moscow, Kazem Jalali, as saying that the cooperation agreement would not include a mutual defense clause, as is the case in the agreements signed by Moscow with North Korea and Belarus.
“The nature of this agreement is different. Belarus and North Korea have established partnership relations with Moscow in a number of areas that we did not particularly touch upon. The independence and security of our country, as well as self-confidence, are extremely important. We are not interested in joining any bloc,“ TASS quoted the ambassador as saying.
Russia and Iran have developed closer relations in recent years, especially after Moscow's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. The Kremlin statement said total trade between the countries rose 15.5% year-on-year in the first 10 months of 2024.
Ukraine said Russia fired more than 8,000 Iranian-developed Shahed drones at targets in Ukraine last year.