Putin agrees to ink Russia-Iran strategic partnership deal

The document states that signing such an agreement would be “expedient” but does not specify when it might be signed.

The countries signed a 10-year deal, dubbed the Treaty on the Basis of Mutual Relations and Principles of Cooperation between Iran and Russia, in 2001. Upon the conclusion of its period, the agreement was extended for two five-year terms, extending its expiration date until 2026.

Negotiations about potential conclusion of another long-term agreement were initiated under the administration of Hassan Rouhani, the Islamic Republic’s seventh president.

In January 2022, late president Ebrahim Raisi, head of the succeeding Iranian administration, visited Moscow and said he had presented Putin with draft documents on strategic cooperation that would cement collaboration between the two sides for the following two decades.

On September 12, Putin said he planned to meet and hold talks with Pezeshkian on the fringes of the upcoming meeting of the BRICS group of countries, which is scheduled to be held in the western Russian city of Kazan next month.

He added that Russia expected a separate trip by the Iranian president for conclusion of a joint comprehensive cooperation agreement between the countries.

The relations between Iran and Russia has taken center stage in recent weeks following reports that Tehran has been providing Moscow with weapons used in its war on Ukraine.

The United States, Germany, Britain and France imposed new sanctions on Iran, including measures against its national airline Iran Air.

Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has stressed that Tehran did not deliver any ballistic missiles to Russia and that sanctions imposed by the US and the three European countries against Iran were not a solution.