According to a statement issued by the Kremlin on Thursday, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Iranian President Masoud Peszek will discuss key issues during their meeting on Friday. Among the items on the agenda are the situation in the Middle East, events in the Caucasus region and Iran’s nuclear program.
During the meeting, the two leaders will sign the long-awaited strategic cooperation agreement.
Speaking to the Russian state news agency TASSZ, the Iranian ambassador in Moscow, Kazem Jalali, said that the agreement does not contain a mutual defense clause, unlike Russia’s treaties with North Korea and Belarus.
Jalali emphasized the importance of Iran’s independence:
The independence and security of our country, as well as its self-reliance, are extremely important. We are not interested in joining any block.
The military aspects of closer cooperation between the two countries also deserve attention. Ukraine claimed last year that Russia had deployed more than 8,000 Iranian-developed Shahed drones since the start of the war. It is worth recalling that Kiev first accused Iran of supplying drones to Russia in the fall of 2022.
Source: Reuters
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