Russian President Vladimir Putin will hold talks with his Iranian counterpart Ebrahim Raisi in Moscow on Wednesday, the Kremlin press service said.
"Russian President Vladimir Putin will hold talks with President of the Islamic Republic of Iran Ebrahim Raisi in Moscow on January 19," the statement said.
"It is planned to discuss the whole range of issues of bilateral cooperation, including the implementation of joint projects in the trade and economic sphere, as well as topical international and regional topics," the Kremlin press service added.
The leaders will discuss the problem of implementing the Iranian nuclear deal, the Kremlin said.
"It is meant to pay attention to the problems of implementing the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action on the Iranian nuclear program," the statement said.
As Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov pointed out earlier, the Russian and Iranian presidents will conduct an "inventory" of the bilateral agenda during the meeting. According to the Russian foreign minister, the countries also face issues of international politics: the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action on the Iranian nuclear program, the situation in the Persian Gulf in general, and joint work at the UN and other international organizations.
In addition, as previously reported, Raisi will address a meeting of the Duma on January 20. Also, according to a TASS source in the Religious Board of Muslims (DUM) of Russia, the Iranian president will visit the Moscow Cathedral Mosque as part of his visit to Russia and meet with clergy from different regions of the country.
Raisi, who won the election with about 62% of the vote, officially took office as President of Iran on August 5 last year. The upcoming visit to Russia will be his first as head of the executive branch. Over the past months, Putin and Raisi have had several telephone contacts.
Negotiations to re-establish the JCPOA
On January 3, the eighth round of talks resumed in the Austrian capital after a New Year's break in order to restore the JCPOA to its original form and return the US to this multilateral agreement. Following a meeting of the Joint Commission of Iran and the five international mediators (Russia, Britain, Germany, China and France), the sides agreed to speed up work on the draft agreement and complete it by early February.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said January 14 that there has been real progress in the negotiations. "On the Iranian nuclear program <...> there is real progress, there is a real desire there, primarily between Iran and the United States, to understand specific concerns and understand how these concerns can be addressed in the overall package," he said, stressing that "it can only be a package solution," like the Iran deal itself. According to Lavrov, experienced negotiators in Vienna "have already penetrated the very details of this negotiating matter" and are "making good progress now." "I am knocking on wood, but we expect that an agreement will be reached," he summarized.
Settlement of Iran's nuclear program
On July 14, 2015, Iran and the "six" international mediators (Russia, Britain, China, the United States, France, and Germany) reached an agreement on a settlement regarding Iran's nuclear program. On October 18, 2015, the JCPOA developed by them entered into force. The plan provides for the gradual lifting of sanctions in exchange for Tehran's commitments to limit nuclear activities and bring them under international control.
After withdrawing from the agreement in May 2018, Washington renewed anti-Iranian sanctions. Due to the fact that the euro-troika did not take concrete steps to support the Iranian economy, on May 8, 2019, Tehran began a gradual suspension of its obligations and on January 5, 2020, announced the fifth and final step away from the agreements. At the same time, the Iranian authorities announced the possibility of returning to the implementation of the agreement, provided that all participants fulfill their obligations. Then US President Donald Trump suggested that the JCPOA participants abandon the document and work on a new agreement.
GSV "Russia - Islamic World"
Photo: official website of the President of the Russian Federation
Based on materials from TASS