In a phone conversation on late Monday, President Hassan Rouhani and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin discussed bilateral cooperation, regional issues and Iran’s nuclear talks.
Rouhani expressed satisfaction with the growing relations between the two states, especially in the economic sphere, and said, “Expansion of economic ties between Iran and Russia, particularly in oil and business sectors, will help promote bilateral cooperation to its highest level in the near future,” IRNA reported.
The president touched on the recent nuclear agreements signed between Iran and Russia, including a contract for the construction of two nuclear power plant units in Bushehr, and said, “Iran-Russia cooperation on peaceful nuclear energy, especially the joint projects for the construction of nuclear plants, have positively affected the countries’ economic ties and laid the required foundations for more joint measures and peaceful nuclear cooperation.”
“The cooperation is also conducive to (creating a better) atmosphere in the world and to expansion of scientific and technical ties between the two neighboring states,” he continued.
Touching on regional issues, he said interaction between regional states in the battle against terrorism and extremism has slowed the advances of terrorist groups, improved the situation in Iraq and Syria and “will gradually turn the tide of the battle in favor of the people in (regional) countries.”
Effective Cooperation
The president noted that Iran and Russia have been successful to offer a good example of effective cooperation in the fight against terrorism and extremism, which has highlighted the necessity of maintaining unity among regional states to combat violence.
Referring to the most recent round of high-level nuclear talks between Iran and the P5+1 (the five permanent UN Security Council members and Germany) in Vienna from November 18-24 , which led to the extension of an interim nuclear deal for seven more months, Rouhani said, “Over the past few days, the two states (Iran and Russia) have actively been engaged in the negotiations and we hope to reach a comprehensive agreement with your assistance, which will ultimately be to the benefit of the nations, the region and the entire world.”
He addressed Putin, “The nation and government of Iran expects to see more seriousness on the part of their northern neighboring state (Russia) in the talks with the P5+1, since our joint efforts have already brought more development for the two nations in Iran and Russia.”
The Russian president, for his part, referred to the recent nuclear talks in Vienna and said, “To reach a comprehensive agreement, we were just short of time,” adding, “It is important that Iran preserves its right for uranium enrichment on its own soil through negotiations.”
Putin also stressed that Russia feels sympathy with Iran, which wants to safeguard its rights.
