Iran Supreme court to sign Memorandum of Cooperation with Russia

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The head of the Iranian Supreme Court, Ahmad Mortazavi Moghaddam, submitted Tuesday a draft Memorandum of Cooperation (MoC) to Russian Chief Justice Vyacheslav Lebedev during a meeting in the Russian capital of Moscow.

The Iranian IRNA news agency reported that Mortazavi Moghaddam pointed out during the meeting the fact that the Iranian-Russian judiciary cooperation was expanding on par with other areas of bilateral partnership and offered a Memorandum of Cooperation to the Russian Supreme Court that went on to be accepted by the latter.

The Iranian top justice official arrived in Moscow on Monday night at the Russian chief justice's invitation for him to meet and hold talks with senior Russian judiciary officials including Prosecutor General Igor Krasnov, lower house chairman Vyacheslav Volodin, Justice Minister Konstantin Chuychenko, Supreme Arbitration Court chairman Anton Ivanov, Constitutional Court chairman Valery Zorkin and Third Court of Appeal chairman Evgeny Kuzin, Russian media reported.

Mortazavi Moghaddam last visited Moscow in November 2022 to meet with Lebedev at the 10th National Congress of Judges and the commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the Russian Supreme Court.

Russian-Iranian relations are highly developing in recent times, with the Iranian ambassador to Russia, Kazem Jalali, saying in late April that ties between his country and Moscow have been reaching new levels in light of both countries having a similar and sometimes unanimous approach toward regional and international issues.

"Today, relations between the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Russian Federation are reaching a new level," Jalali said during an academic event held in the Russian capital with a focus on the Persian language and Persian literature.

Likewise, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian lauded a month prior his country's growing cooperation with Moscow, most notably in the fields of business, politics, culture, tourism, security, and defense.

Commenting on the question regarding US worries about defense cooperation between Russia, the top Iranian diplomat assured that such cooperation will not be directed against any third party.

Meanwhile, Russia's ambassador to Tehran, Alexei Dedov, said in February that trade relations between Russia and Iran have reached a record high of $4.6 billion in 2022, a stark increase of 15% compared to the year prior.

The Russian diplomat added that prospects for further growth are likewise anticipated for 2023.

Reduced usage of the US dollar in bilateral trade will, according to the ambassador, reduce the impact of the dollar on the Russian-Iranian economic partnership.

Moreover, White House Strategic Communications Coordinator John Kirby claimed Friday that Iran wants to acquire billions of dollars worth of military equipment from Russia, which is already "offering Iran unprecedented defense cooperation including on missiles, electronics, air defense."

According to the coordinator, Iran is also aiming to purchase attack helicopters, radars, and combat trainer aircraft from Russia.