Tá an Rúis agus an Iaráin le naisc dhéthaobhacha a chomhdhlúthú

The visit of the new Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi to Russia on January 19-20 took place at a difficult time for the two countries. Moscow is experiencing the most serious crisis in relations with the West and NATO in recent decades, both in connection with Russia's demands to provide it with security guarantees, as well as in the light of propaganda hysteria around Ukraine. Tehran, in turn, is conducting dramatic negotiations in Vienna around the so-called Joint Comprehensive Plan of Actions (JCPOA) related to the country's nuclear program. The success or failure of this process will be of crucial importance for Iran itself, the region, and the world as a whole, scríobhann Alexi Ivanov, comhfhreagraí Moscó.

According to many world politicians and experts, both states - Russia and Iran - face the most difficult choice in their modern history: to guarantee peace for their countries or to slide into the abyss of a large-scale confrontation, including military one.

Tehran highly values relations with Moscow, which has become especially characteristic for the new leadership of Iran after the election of President Raisi in August 2021. In addition to broad political cooperation in the region - Syria, Afghanistan - both countries are dynamically developing economic and military co-operation.

Iran is actively involved in regional cooperation in Central Asia, in particular through the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, which has become largely possible thanks to Russia's support.

All those approaches of Iran towards further cooperation with Russia were again voiced by the President of Raisi in Moscow.

During the talks with his Iranian vis-a-vis, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that, despite the pandemic, the development of trade between Russia and Iran continues. The Russian leader noted that in 2020 there was "a small, but still an increase in trade turnover of over 6%.

"And last year (2019) there was a record 38% growth," Putin stressed.

The head of the Russian state also recalled that Russia and Iran are implementing major projects "in many areas."

Aiseolas

Earlier, the Kremlin press service reported that the Presidents of Russia and Iran, Vladimir Putin and Ibrahim Raisi, at a meeting in Moscow discussed the implementation of joint projects in the economy, international and regional topics, as well as the implementation of the Joint comprehensive plan of action on the Iranian nuclear program (JCPOA).

A few days before Ebrahim Raisi's visit to Moscow, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and his Iranian counterpart Amir Abdollahian discussed by phone the situation around the JCPOA in the context of the 8th round of negotiations resumed at the end of December 2021 in Vienna to restore the full implementation of the "nuclear deal".

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov then said that there is a real progress on the issue of restoring the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) on the Iranian nuclear program. 

"I would still take a more realistic position on the Iranian nuclear program. There is real progress there, there is a real desire, first of all between Iran and the United States, to understand specific concerns, to understand how these concerns can be taken into account in a common package. It can only be a package solution, just as the nuclear deal itself was a package solution," Lavrov said in an interview a few days ago. 

Moscow expects that a deal will be reached. It is important that Iran “be realistic and cooperate with the IAEA, and the Western negotiators did not try to create psychological tension”, official sources in Moscow report.

Recently the United States and Iran both sounded pessimistic about the chances of reviving the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, with Washington saying it had little cause for optimism and Tehran questioning the determination of U.S. and European negotiators.

President Raisi brought with him an impressive delegation for a two-day visit. They discussed cooperation in politics, economic and the military sphere. Therefore, the first words of the Iranian president were about the fact that he sees relations with the Russian Federation as “long-term and strategic”.

In the course of his meeting with President Putin, the Iranian President said that he had brought with him a "document" that contains provisions on strategic cooperation for the next 20 years. Experts believe that this project is in many ways similar to the previously signed long-term agreement for 25 years between Iran and China. The document, in particular, involves attracting investments in economic projects in Iran.

It is reported that during the visit of Raisi, the parties agreed to create a roadmap to achieve “the highest level of bilateral co-operation”.

"We want our relations with Russia to be strong and comprehensive. These relations will not be short-term or positional, but permanent and strategic," Raisi said at a meeting with Vladimir Putin.

President Raisi complained that "the current level of trade and economic relations is not satisfactory." According to the Iranian president, Russia and Iran can expand trade and economic ties and increase volumes several times.

Speaking at the plenary session of the State Duma (parliament of Russia), Raisi said that “Iran is not engaged in the creation of nuclear weapons”, noting that this is not provided for by the defense strategy of the state. The Iranian president also predicted the "disintegration" of NATO, saying that the alliance "is engaged in penetration into the geographical spaces of countries under various pretexts and cover, threatening independent states." Such a tough approach by the head of Iran to the activities of the North Atlantic Alliance in the world did not come as a surprise to Russian experts and analysts, although there were no official comments on this from Moscow.

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