Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian will hold talks in Moscow on Wednesday. The main topics of discussion will be the restoration of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action on Iran's nuclear program (JCPOA), the situation in Ukraine and Syria.
This is the second visit of the Iranian minister to Moscow this year. He previously visited the Russian capital in March. During that trip, he discussed sanctions against Iran, the nuclear deal, and bilateral relations. Lavrov also visited Tehran in June.
On the finish line
Renewal of the Iran nuclear deal is expected to be a key topic of the talks. The general assessment is that reaching an agreement is now "closer than ever."
Nevertheless, disagreements remain between Iran and the US on some provisions. The Iranian MFA said on August 24 that the US had responded to Iranian and EU proposals for resolving the disagreement. Tehran promised to provide a commentary after considering the US position. According to Bloomberg, an agreement could take several more weeks to be reached.
Abdollahian said the main objective of his visit to Moscow was to resolve the Ukrainian crisis "on the basis of a request sent by Iran." According to him, some Western countries want "Tehran to play an active role in this issue."
The Iranian side has repeatedly stated its readiness to mediate on the situation around Ukraine. At the same time, Tehran has officially noted that the crisis was the result of Western and NATO policies. "The US and its allies must bear responsibility for the harm done to the peoples of Russia and Ukraine," said Ali Abdollahi, Deputy Chief of Staff of Iran's Armed Forces, at the 10th Moscow Conference on International Security, on August 16.
Lavrov earlier expressed gratitude to the Iranian side "for an absolutely correct understanding of what is happening" in Ukraine. At a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Tehran on July 19, Iranian spiritual leader Ali Khamenei said that if NATO had not been stopped in Ukraine, the alliance would have started a war with Russia after a while under the pretext of Crimea.
Tehran arrangements
Separate attention is planned to be paid to the situation in Syria. The sides are expected to discuss practical steps to implement the agreements reached in Tehran at the Astana format summit on July 19. Syrian Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad visited Moscow last week. After his talks with his Syrian counterpart, Lavrov said the Tehran agreements were "being implemented fully."
Both Moscow and Tehran are concerned about a possible new Turkish military operation on the territory of Syria. Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on August 25 that the operation "may start at any time." Meanwhile, following talks with Mekdad, Lavrov stressed that Moscow considers the beginning of military actions in northern Syria unacceptable.
Cooperation in spite of sanctions
As Smolenskaya Square stressed ahead of the talks, progress in all areas of bilateral ties is long-term and progressive. In an interview with TASS, Iranian Ambassador to Moscow Kazem Jalali said that restrictions by the West have brought Russia and Iran closer together, and they will resist the sanctions pressure together. For its part, Moscow is determined to deepen mutually beneficial cooperation with Tehran in all areas.
Bilateral trade turnover between January and July amounted to $2.7 billion, a 42.5% increase over the same period last year. Russia has already become a major supplier of grain and fodder to Iran, but Tehran does not rule out further increases in supplies.
According to the co-chairman of the Russia-Iran intergovernmental commission, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak, the sides discuss the attraction of investments in the implementation of oil and gas projects, as well as swap supplies of oil and gas. According to Iran's ambassador to Moscow, Tehran will welcome Russian investors and implementation of joint projects with Russian companies.
The Russian MFA notes progress in talks on a full-fledged free trade agreement between Iran and the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU). The next round will be held in Moscow at the end of September.
The impetus for the further promotion of economic ties amid unprecedented sanctions pressure should be provided by the agreements in the banking sector. Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister for Economic Affairs Mehdi Safari said on August 30 that Moscow and Tehran had agreed to establish a SWIFT analogue for mutual settlements with each other and several other countries, which would soon become operational. In addition, Iran will be able to connect to the Mir system in the coming days.
GSV "Russia - Islamic World"
Photo: Russian Foreign Ministry
Based on materials from TASS