Russia: Western sanctions won't obstruct Russian-Iranian cooperation
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The cooperation will proceed regardless of how tight Washington and allies make their sanctions on countries that don't align with their policies.
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Russian President Vladimir Putin met with Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi in Tehran in July (Anadolu Agency)
The Russian Foreign Ministry asserted Tuesday that the West's hostile acts and its sanctions against Iran and Russia will not stop the 2 countries from developing mutually beneficial cooperation in all areas.
"In January-July 2022 the bilateral trade [between Russia and Iran] accounted for $2.7 billion, which is 42.7% more than in the same period last year," the ministry said.
The ministry added that there has also been progress in negotiations on a comprehensive free-trade agreement between Iran and the Eurasian Economic Union.
On Wednesday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, alongside his Iranian counterpart, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, will discuss the situation around the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) as well as Russian and Iranian projects in energy and transport at talks in Moscow.
The ministry, furthermore, said that talks planned to continue an exchange of views on a number of domestic and international issues, including the JCPOA situation, the state affairs in Ukraine, Syria, Afghanistan, Transcaucasia, and the Caspian Sea.
Iran and Russia have been warming up their relations, with reports in July revealing that Iran had become Russia's top customer in purchasing Russian wheat with 360,000 metric tonnes in deliveries according to data-intelligence company Kpler.
Earlier this month, the Iranian Finance Ministry's banking and insurance department said Iran could join the Russian Mir payment system within months of when talks between Tehran and Moscow reach a conclusion - this, according to Qorban Eskandari, the department's head, could be in the very near future.
The two countries' close collaboration comes against a backdrop of targeted and comprehensive sanctions waged by the West against them, which has prompted closer cooperation in the long run. The US-led world order has only polarized alliances further.
The closer cooperation will ameliorate the aggressive impacts of the West-led sanctions on the two countries by locating new markets for their products and boosting military cooperation. Recently, US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan called the ties a "profound threat".
