Mohammad Bagheri, chief of the General staff of Iran's Armed Forces, said he plans to discuss arms supplies and the situation in Afghanistan during his visit to Russia. His remarks on his arrival in Russia were broadcast Sunday by Iranian state television.
"The situation in Afghanistan will be one of the topics to be discussed by the parties during this visit," he said. According to the military official, "changes in Afghanistan are affecting countries in the region, including Iran and Russia with its southern neighbors." He noted that "the Iranian side is cooperating with Russia in many spheres, and this cooperation has expanded in recent years."
In addition, Bagheri noted that "Tehran has agreements with Moscow to sell arms after the [UN Security Council] embargo ends." "We will talk to the Russian side about this during the trip," he added. The head of the Iranian Armed Forces General staff noted that "a variety of military cooperation will also be discussed, including training, holding military competitions, exchanging experience, continuing cooperation to ensure Syria's security."
On October 18, 2020, the embargo on supplies to Iran, as well as exports of conventional weapons from that country, expired. The US has opposed the lifting of the arms embargo on Iran for the past several months. However, Russia, China and European countries did not support Washington's initiatives in the UN Security Council to extend the embargo on Tehran.
On October 19, 2020, then Iranian defense minister brigadier general Amir Khatami stated that Tehran and Moscow were cooperating on the development of Iranian aircraft and the countries had already reached an agreement. He also noted that Iran "has military [cooperation] agreements at a new stage after the lifting of the arms embargo [against Tehran] with China and Russia".
Bagheri arrived Sunday on an official visit to Moscow, where he is scheduled to meet with Russian defense minister army general Sergei Shoigu and Russian Armed Forces chief of Staff Valery Gerasimov. The military will stay in the Russian Federation for four days.
GSV "Russia - Islamic World"
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Based on materials from TASS