Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Iranian counterpart Masoud Pezeshkian deepened military ties between their countries by signing a 20-year strategic partnership that is likely to unsettle the West.
Under the agreement, Russia and Iran will increase cooperation in a number of areas, including their security services, military exercises, port visits by warships and joint training of officers, writes A2 CNN.
Neither will allow their territory to be used for any action that threatens the other state and will not offer any assistance to an aggressor that attacks either of these two nations, according to the text, which also states that they will work together to counter military threats.
But the agreement did not include a mutual defense clause similar to the treaty between Russia and North Korea, which the West says has seen North Korean troops deployed to fight in Ukraine, something Moscow has neither confirmed nor denied.
Pezeshkian, on his first visit to the Kremlin since winning the presidency last July, hailed the treaty as an important new chapter in bilateral relations, while Putin said Moscow and Tehran shared many views on international issues.
"The partnership agreement that was signed today opens a new chapter in relations between Iran and Russia in all spheres, especially in trade and economic cooperation. I am convinced that this treaty, which has been drafted on the basis of areas of mutual interest, will create new paths for expanding new and bright horizons in cooperation between Russia and Iran," said Masoud Pezeshkian, President of Iran.
"We need less bureaucracy and more concrete actions. Whatever difficulties are created by others, we will be able to overcome them and move forward," said Vladimir Putin, President of Russia, writes A2 CNN.
Putin said that Russia regularly informed Iran about what was happening in the conflict in Ukraine and that they consulted closely on events in the Middle East and the South Caucasus region. (A2 Televizion)
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