TEHRAN, March 29 (Xinhua) -- Iranian foreign minister said on Wednesday that Tehran and Moscow are taking the final step toward the signing of a long-term cooperation agreement.
Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, who left Iran for Russia on Tuesday, made the remarks at a meeting with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov in Moscow, according to Iran's official news agency IRNA.
Amir-Abdollahian said Russia has reviewed and finalized its version of the long-term strategic cooperation agreement, and the Iranian Foreign Ministry has also reviewed the treaty and would hopefully make the final amendments to it in less than a month.
He said different high-ranking Iranian and Russian delegations are exchanging views at different levels and the two countries' presidents are constantly in contact with each other.
The top Iranian diplomat noted that the Tehran-Moscow relations are moving on their "correct path" and improving, expressing hope that the bilateral cooperation in regional and international organizations would continue favorably.
In an address to reporters upon arriving in Moscow on Tuesday night, Amir-Abdollahian said Russia has played a very effective role in the months-long negotiations in Vienna on the revival of a nuclear deal, which was signed in between Iran and world powers in July 2015 and abandoned by the United States in 2018.
Turning to the U.S. concerns about defense cooperation between Iran and Russia, he said cooperation in the defense sector is among the issues on the agenda of Tehran and Moscow, but such collaborations will not be against any third party.
Speaking in the Wednesday meeting with his Iranian counterpart, Lavrov said talks between Moscow and Tehran are continuing "actively" in different areas and making progress.
The Russian diplomat said bilateral relations, exchanges and cooperation in the political, trade, investment, and economic fields, as well as the implementation of key projects, have been expanded.
He said relations between the two sides through the economic cooperation commission have seen sustainable growth, noting that Russia and Iran have close cooperation on regional and international affairs.
Iran and Russia, both under sanctions imposed by the United States, have been expanding their political and economic relations to counter the U.S. moves.
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin have held regular phone talks with each other over the past months and paid visits to the two countries.
In July 2022, Russian Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that a comprehensive treaty on strategic cooperation between Moscow and Tehran may be signed soon, according to Russia's TASS news agency. ■
