Iran-Russia defense cooperation against no side: FM

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian arrived at the Russian capital on Tuesday night.

Upon his arrival in Moscow, Amir-Abdollahian had a brief interview with journalists.

Referring to the Iran-Russia ties, the top Iranian diplomat stated that Tehran assesses the relations with Moscow positively, adding that the volume of trade exchange between the two countries has increased more than 3.5 times during the past 1.5 years.

He went on to say that various cases of relations between the two countries in the economic, commercial, political, cultural and tourism, security and defense fields have been fully activated and both sides express their satisfaction with the progress of relations in all these sectors in line with the interests of the two nations.

Speaking about his upcoming meeting with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov, Amir-Abdollahian cited, "The main focus of our discussions is the pursuit of bilateral issues. There are many topics on our agenda that should be activated more than before. We will also discuss regional and international issues, among the topics that can be included in our common agenda is to focus on the crises that exist in the region."

The Iranian foreign minister also added that the window to the JCPOA negotiations is still open and the talks on removing anti-Iran sanctions is another topic that he is going to discuss with Lavrov.

"In the new round of negotiations between Iran and the 4+1 that lasted for months by my colleagues in Vienna, Russia played an important role, and our colleagues in Russia continue their efforts to return all parties to their commitments, and of course, one of the natural topics to discuss will be the JCPOA," he stressed.

Answering a question regarding the US concern over Iran-Russia defense cooperation, Amir-Abdollahian noted, "Of course, defense cooperation is one of the issues on the joint agenda of Iran and Russia," adding, "Our cooperation will not be against any side."

The top Iranian diplomat also said that he is scheduled to hold a meeting with the members of The Committee on International Affairs of the State Duma during his Moscow visit.

Elsewhere in his remarks, Amir-Abdollahian touched upon the US illegal sanctions, saying, "US sanctions are considered a failed policy. This confession was also made earlier by a senior American official."

Stating that although the Islamic Republic of Iran believes that sanctions are economic terrorist tools against nations, Tehran used the opportunity and managed the situation for the benefit of the country's progress. 

"We believe that today's sanctions policy is ineffective, incorrect, and a terrorist war against nations," he underlined.