Putin orders the signing of a strategic partnership agreement with Iran

The Russian President, Vladimir Putin, ordered the signing of a comprehensive strategic partnership agreement with Iran, the subject of new Western sanctions for supplying ballistic missiles to Moscow.

Putin thus accepted the proposal of the Foreign Ministry agreed with the Russian government, according to the state legal information portal.

Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov announced in early September that both countries were finalizing the preparation of the comprehensive agreement for signature.

Putin met last week in St. Petersburg with the Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council of Iran, General Ali Akbar Ahmadian, a meeting in which he stressed that since the new Iranian president took office, Masud Pezeshkian"There has been no change in relations with Russia."

"Cooperation with Russia remains a priority for the new president's team. We look forward to seeing him in Kazan on October 22-24 for the BRICS summit," he said.

Putin expressed confidence that Pezeshkian will pay a state visit to Russia during which he hopes to sign a major interstate agreement aimed at turning relations into a "strategic partnership."

He also extended his best wishes to Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, whom he held responsible for the fact that in recent years "Russian-Iranian friendly relations have acquired a new dynamic."

He admitted that trade exchanges had declined in 2023, but that trend - he stressed - has been reversed in the first half, in which they grew "almost 10%".

Despite the sanctions, the Kremlin says Russia will continue to cooperate on sensitive issues with Iran, which it sees as an "important partner for the country."

Last week, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy accused Russia from kyiv of escalating the situation “by sending ballistic missiles from Iran.”

For this reason, they announced that they would discuss with the leaders of their countries the authorization to allow Ukraine to use long-range missiles against targets in Russian territory, which led Putin to warn that, in that case, NATO "will be at war with Russia." EFE