On Wednesday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov will meet with his Iranian counterpart Hossein Amir Abdollahian, who has arrived in Moscow on a working visit. The foreign ministers are expected to compare their approaches on a wide range of issues, from renewing the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) on Iran's nuclear program to stabilizing the situation in the South Caucasus.
The agenda for the talks promises to be rich, because Abdollahian's visit to the Russian capital was planned for January but was postponed to a later date by agreement between the sides. By the end of this month, a number of important issues had accumulated both on the bilateral agenda and within the framework of regional and international issues. Among them are the elaboration of a meeting of the deputy foreign ministers of Russia, Turkey, Iran and Syria on the settlement of relations between Damascus and Ankara, the convening of the second "three plus three" meeting on Transcaucasia, announced by Lavrov, as well as work in the Astana format on the Syrian settlement. It is possible that the ministers will also touch on the topic of Russia's special military operation in Ukraine.
"The improving situation in the Middle East region will be considered in light of the announced restoration of relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia," Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova stressed at a briefing ahead of the Russian-Iranian talks.
Vienna prospects
One of the sensitive topics of the upcoming ministerial meeting is expected to be the negotiation process in Vienna on the renewal of the JCPOA. On the eve of his visit to Moscow, the Iranian minister said that a bill on Tehran's withdrawal from the relevant talks had been submitted to the Majlis (parliament) of the republic. Abdollahian stressed that Iran remains committed to cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency within the framework of the agreements reached earlier this month between Director-General Rafael Grossi and the authorities of the country, but at the platform in Vienna "the door for dialogue may close."
Mikhail Ulyanov, Russia's permanent representative to international organizations in Vienna, repeatedly stated Moscow's position, confirming its "strong will" to finish the work on restoring the JCPOA and urging its partners not to miss the chance to revive the agreement. He claimed that the West is primarily responsible for the "stalled Vienna talks" because their unwillingness to be constructive would risk taking the process "down the path of a probable uncontrolled escalation."
Nevertheless, during Chinese President Xi Jinping's recent visit to Moscow and his talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Russia and China in a joint statement called on all parties concerned "to take political decisions that would facilitate a positive outcome to the negotiations." Lavrov is likely to detail Moscow's arguments to his counterpart.
Face-to-face meetings
Another important topic for checking the notes is expected to be the elaboration of meetings of the sides at different levels in multilateral formats. Among the most anticipated are the previously postponed talks in Moscow of the deputy foreign ministers of Iran, Russia, Syria and Turkey, during which the sides intended to discuss the preparation of a ministerial meeting on the normalization of relations between Ankara and Damascus. Russia's Special Representative for the Middle East and Africa and Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov, explaining the decision to postpone the meeting, told TASS that the reason was not so much a request from Moscow but rather the unreadiness of some partners. The ministers will probably have an opportunity to clarify the most appropriate dates for launching this four-party format.
The upcoming Russian-Iranian talks are also likely to clarify the dates of the second "three plus three" meeting, which will involve the three countries of the South Caucasus (Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia) as well as the three nearest neighbors in the region (Russia, Iran, and Turkey). As Lavrov announced earlier, the Russian foreign ministry is working on organizing a corresponding meeting, and "the door for Tbilisi remains open. Iranian Ambassador to Moscow Kazem Jalali told TASS that Tehran "always supports such a mechanism."
Bilateral track
Issues of the bilateral agenda form no less important block of topics. Russian-Iranian relations have recently advanced to a new level. Last year the ministers met five times in person and held nine telephone conversations, contacts are also carried out regularly by governments, parliaments, secretaries of security councils and other state and commercial structures. The Russian foreign ministry expressed "satisfaction with the record trade turnover achieved despite the illegitimate unilateral sanctions" imposed against Moscow and Tehran. Thus, at the end of 2022, trade turnover between Russia and Iran reached $4.86 billion, 20.2% more than the 2021 record.
In turn, the Iranian ambassador expressed the opinion that the current level of bilateral cooperation gives serious grounds to believe that by the end of this year a comprehensive agreement on cooperation between Tehran and Moscow will be signed, and the agreement on a free trade zone with the Eurasian Economic Union will be ratified. And taking into account the signing of a memorandum on Iran's obligations at the SCO summit in September 2022 in order to obtain the status of an SCO member state, Moscow expects Tehran's full-scale participation in the organization soon.
Jalali, meanwhile, also expressed hope that this year Russia and Iran would be able to agree on a visa-free regime. In an interview with TASS Deputy Minister of Tourism, Cultural Heritage and Handicrafts of Iran Ali Asghar Shalbafian stressed that a visa-free regime for individual tourists from Russia "requires time", but Tehran on its part is ready to solve it. At the same time, he noted that group visa-free travels from Russia to Iran will begin in spring. Shalbafian also made a favorable forecast for the launch of the Mir payment system in the Islamic Republic in the near future, noting that the central banks of Russia and Iran are already working on this project.
It is likely that the issues of tourist exchanges, strengthening of coordination at regional and international platforms, as well as further building of economic cooperation between the countries will not go unnoticed by the ministers.
GSV "Russia - Islamic world"
Photo: Russian Foreign Ministry
Based on materials from TASS