Tehran, Moscow to Sign 20-Year Cooperation Agreement

IRAN NEWS POLITICAL DESK

TEHRAN – Foreign Minister said that Tehran and Moscow have agreed to extend the cooperation agreement between the two countries for 20 years.

Addressing the reporters on the sidelines of a cabinet meeting on Wednesday, Mohammad Javad Zarif said that there is a cooperation agreement between Iran and Russia that was concluded at the time of the former Iranian President Seyed Mohammad Khatami, noting that this agreement was for 10 years and has been extended for two to five years, and in another eight months, it will be extended for 20 years.

“The agreement relates to another period of international relations and our relations with Russia. I agreed with Russian President Vladimir Putin to review this agreement,” Iran’s Foreign Minister added.

“Of course, when the deadline comes, if someone does not object, it will be extended, but we saw better than a comprehensive long-term strategic contract is developed and the contract is updated and finally signed and submitted to the parliament for approval,” Zarif noted.

Zarif referred to his trip to Moscow, saying he had a one-hour secured telephone conversation with the Russian President and stressed: “I conveyed the President Hassan Rouhani’s special message on the Iran Nuclear Deal, also known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) and some bilateral issues to Putin.”

Meanwhile on Tuesday and in Moscow, Zarif said Iran-Russia relations are at their strongest in decades, adding that such sustainable ties will benefit both countries and guarantee global peace and security.

“Today, relations between Iran and Russia are at their highest peak in comparison to the previous decades and we hope that we will be able to maintain these relations all the more powerfully and in a longer-lasting fashion,” Zarif said in a meeting with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov.

He added that mutual relations “are certainly in line with the two countries’ interests and based on mutual respect and will guarantee peace and security in the world.”

He hailed Russia’s opposition to US unilateral policies against Iran during sessions held at the United Nations Security Council and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

The top Iranian diplomat said the vote of Russia and China against the IAEA Board of Governors’ anti-Iran resolution and their stern opposition to U.S. attempts to extend the UN Security Council’s arms embargo on Tehran indicated “consolidated relations among Iran, Russia and China and their resistance against the US unilateralism.”

The stance of China and Russia highlighted their leading role in maintaining the landmark 2015 nuclear agreement, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

China and Russia last month rebuked the UN nuclear agency for giving in to US bullying as the IAEA’s Board of Governor passed a resolution critical of Iran for the first time since 2012.

Elsewhere in his remarks, Zarif said his current visit is a good opportunity for Iranian and Russian officials to discuss mutual issues and the latest developments in the region, particularly in Syria, Afghanistan and Yemen.

Zarif also reacted to some assumptions about the mediating role of Iraq in Iran-Saudi Arabia relations.

He reiterated that Tehran has been always ready to hold talks with Saudi Arabia.

The Iranian FM criticized that Saudi Arabia is dependent on foreign powers such as the US, the UK, and the Zionists regime, instead of relying on its neighbors who are always present in the region.

The Russian foreign minister, for his part, said his meeting with Zarif was an “important stage” in the joint efforts by the remaining members of the JCPOA to maintain this “most important achievement of multilateral diplomacy.”

Lavrov emphasized that there are still chances to preserve the international nuclear accord.

“We consider the line that our American colleagues took to completely unravel this important document to be destructive, as has been the case with other documents on non-proliferation,” he said.

“Nevertheless, we are confident that chances for the JCPOA to return to a stable course still remain, at least we, like our Iranian friends, are doing our best to this end,” the top Russian diplomat pointed out.

Lavrov added that China and the remaining European members of the JCPOA seem to be willing to preserve the agreement as well.