Tehran, Moscow confer on military cooperation
Iranian Defense Minister Aziz Nasirzadeh met with his Russian counterpart Andrey Belousov in Moscow on Monday to discuss expanding military cooperation, according to Iran’s ambassador to Russia, Kazem Jalali.
Jalali said that the meeting focused on “enhancing bilateral cooperation in the military and defense fields.”
The Iranian diplomat said Nasirzadeh also attended a Sunday meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ali Larijani, top adviser to Iran’s Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei.
Larijani “conveyed assessments of the escalating situation in the Middle East and around the Iranian nuclear program,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said of the unannounced meeting.
Putin expressed Russia’s “well-known positions on how to stabilize the situation in the region and on the political settlement of the Iranian nuclear program,” he added.
No further details were immediately available about the surprise visit by Larijani to Moscow.
Iran and Russia enjoy a close diplomatic and political relationship.