Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov visits Iran to boost energy and trade cooperation

Europe, Middle East, News June 23, 2022 , by IRIA No Comments

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov arrived in Tehran on June 22, to conduct high-level meetings with Iranian leadership and pursue discussions related to trade and energy cooperation.

According to Iran’s state-owned television, during his two-day visit to Tehran, Russia’s top diplomat would discuss the Iran Nuclear Deal of 2015, as well as the ongoing situation of Ukraine, Syria, and Afghanistan. The two countries are paving the way to boost trade and energy cooperation with each other.

Soon after landing in Tehran, Lavrov met with Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi. The pictures of the meeting were released by Iranian officials, however, no specific details were provided about the discussions that went on during the meeting.

Prior to Lavrov’s visit, the Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said that the two sides intend to exchange views on a number of pressing international issues, including the situation around the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action on the Iranian nuclear program, the state of affairs in Ukraine, Syria, Afghanistan, Transcaucasia, Yemen and around the Caspian Sea.

Iran’s President Raisi visited Moscow in January 2022, where he met with Russian President Vladimir Putin with draft documents on strategic cooperation between the two countries. Later in May 2022, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak visited Tehran along with a large delegation after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine sent global oil and gas prices soaring.

*^{Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi meets with Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Tehran, Iran, on June 22, 2022. (Image Credit: West Asia News Agency/ via Reuters)}*

Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova earlier said that the Russian and Iranian officials “intend to exchange views on a number of pressing international issues, including the situation around the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action on the Iranian nuclear program, the state of affairs in Ukraine, Syria, Afghanistan, Transcaucasia, Yemen and around the Caspian Sea. In addition, the ministers will discuss a bilateral agenda, which, among other things, concerns the implementation of key joint projects in the field of energy and transport, as well as the prospects for stepping cultural and humanitarian ties,” Russian TASS news agency reported.

Tehran and Moscow both have huge oil and gas reserves but are constrained by sanctions that limit their ability to export their output. For the last few months, both Iran and Russia have been deepening their ties as the two countries are facing a similar situation amid the heavily imposed sanctions from the western world. Russia indicated last month that the two countries are planning to swap energy supplies with each other as well as establish a logistics hub for trade.

Russia played a key role in bringing Iran back onto the tables of negotiation after the United States unilaterally withdrew from the Iran Nuclear Deal in 2018 under the Trump administration and slapped a set of severe sanctions on Iran. Russia took over Iran’s excessive enriched uranium stocks that were beyond those permitted under the agreement to bring Iran back to negotiations under the Biden administration in order to revive the 2015 nuclear deal.

The negotiations have been stalled since March 2022, amid the growing tensions between Tehran and Washington on the US sanctions that would be lifted in exchange for Iran’s return to full compliance with the agreed limits to its nuclear activities.