Lavrov meets Raisi, conveys Putin's hope for a meeting
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With the two nations dealing with US-led sanctions, the Russian Foreign Minister expresses Putin's hope for future meetings with the Iranian President.
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Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov
Russian President Vladimir Putin hopes to keep up top-level meetings with Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Wednesday.
As the two nations deal with Western economic sanctions, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov visited Iran on Wednesday for discussions on expanding trade and energy ties.
Read next: Iran to trade with Russia using national currencies
Both Tehran and Moscow have massive oil and gas reserves but are limited in their capacity to export their products due to sanctions.
According to Iribnews, "Upon his arrival in Tehran, Lavrov, met with President (Ebrahim) Raisi."
"President Putin asked me to convey his warmest greetings and best wishes. He looks forward to more meetings with you," Lavrov told Raisi at the start of their meeting, thanking the Iranian leader for the opportunity to be received there.
The Foreign Minister noted that Putin currently has a very busy agenda, with several meetings on economic, social, banking, and financial matters held every day. Lavrov also called out the West and its "selfish and aggressive policies" that negatively influenced other nations and forced them to reconfigure their economic relations so as not to depend on "the whims and caprices" of the United States and its allies.
On his part, Raisi responded by extending his gratitude to Putin for the decree, which put into practical terms the results of their meeting in Moscow in January.
During his two-day visit, Russia's top diplomat is slated to address the 2015 "nuclear deal, the situations in Ukraine, Syria, and Afghanistan, and boosting commercial and energy cooperation" according to Iribnews.
Read next: Iran, Russia sign business deal
On Thursday, Lavrov will meet with his Iranian counterpart, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, according to the official news agency IRNA.
Russia has faced a massive Western campaign of sanctions since the war in Ukraine began, whereas Iran's economy has been battered by harsh sanctions reimposed by the US in 2018, following Washington's unilateral abrupt withdrawal from the nuclear deal reached between Tehran and international nations.
The Vienna Talks have been deadlocked since March because of Washington's refusal to lift the sanctions on Iran, thus alleviating the Iranian people's suffering.
Iran's Raisi visited Moscow in January and said he submitted draft agreements on strategic cooperation to his counterpart Vladimir Putin that would solidify the partnership for the next two decades.
After the war in Ukraine pushed global oil and gas prices skyrocketing, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak led a team to Tehran in late May.
