Russia to closely analyze Iran's idea of setting up gas hub

Ryabkov made the remarks commenting on the statements of Iran's Oil Minister Javad Owji who recently said that Iran is trying to have a gas hub in the Asaluyeh region with the cooperation of Russia, Turkmenistan, and Qatar.

"We welcome initiatives that help deal with the energy security problem in a broad sense and contribute to continued development of Russian-Iranian relations, and in general, we are open to constructive ideas," Ryabkov told journalists in Zvenigorod outside of Moscow, Interfax reported.

"Definitely, economic operators and the relevant executive federal agencies will thoroughly study this idea. We have close contacts with all the above-mentioned actors in this context," Ryabkov said.