Masoud Pezeshkian and Vladimir Putin are expected to sign a landmark defense agreement
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian will visit Moscow on January 17, Russia’s RIA news agency has reported. Pezeshkian and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, are expected to sign a strategic partnership agreement during the visit.
RIA announced the upcoming trip on Thursday, citing Iranian ambassador to Russia Kazem Jalali.
Pezeshkian last traveled to Russia in October to attend the BRICS summit in Kazan. The Kremlin said at the time that relations between Iran and Russia were “on the rise,” and that they would reach the level of a “comprehensive strategic partnership” in the future.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said at the end of October that a treaty setting out this partnership was being prepared, and that it would enable “closer cooperation in the field of defense” between Moscow and Tehran.
The US and its allies have accused Iran of supplying drones, missiles, and associated components to the Russian military for use in the Ukraine conflict, and have sanctioned multiple companies supposedly involved in the arms pipeline. Moscow and Tehran insist that no such weapons transfers have taken place.
Putin and Pezeshkian spoke by phone earlier this month, as jihadist forces advanced toward the Syrian capital of Damascus. While both Russia and Iran were allies of former Syrian President Bashar Assad, neither nation chose to intervene once it became clear that Assad planned to peacefully surrender power and leave the country.
Russian Deputy Prime Minister for Transport Vitaly Savelyev met Pezeshkian in Tehran earlier this week. The two discussed the Rasht-Astara railway project, which when complete will link existing rail lines in Azerbaijan, Iran, Russia, and India.
