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Iran’s parliament approved a 20-year strategic partnership on Wednesday between Moscow and Tehran, state media reported. The agreement represents a deepening of bilateral ties including closer defence cooperation. The agreement will certainly not be appreciated by the West. It would certainly affect the nuclear deal talks.
Voicing doubts whether talks on a new nuclear deal will succeed, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said U.S. demands that Tehran stop enriching uranium are “excessive and outrageous”,
Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Iranian counterpart Masoud Pezeshkian signed the strategic partnership document on January 17.
The Russian legislative branch approved the pact in April. While the agreement does not include a mutual defence clause, it says both countries will work together against common military threats, develop their military-technical cooperation, and take part in joint exercises.
Since the start of the war in Ukraine in 2022, Iran and Russia have deepened military ties, with Western countries accusing Iran of providing missiles and drones for Russian attacks on Ukraine. Tehran denies providing weapons for Russian use in Ukraine.
The strategic pact also includes several clauses aimed at boosting economic partnership, notably by strengthening direct interbank cooperation and promoting their national financial products.
A free trade deal between Iran and the Russian-led Eurasian Economic Union went into effect last week, cutting down tariffs to boost trade between the two economies, which are both under heavy Western sanctions.
The enhanced relationship with Russians, will definitely affect the talks on nuclear issues with the US.
“I don’t think nuclear talks with the U.S. will bring results. I don’t know what will happen,” Khamenei said, adding that Washington should avoid making “nonsense” demands in the negotiations, four rounds of which have been held.
The mood of leaders sitting across the table to hammer out a nuclear deal keep receding. “We are witnessing positions on the U.S. side that do not go along with any logic and are creating problems for the negotiations. That’s why we have not determined the next round of talks, we are reviewing the matter and hope logic will prevail,” Araqchi, the Iranian Foreign Minister adds.
Team BharatShakti
(With Inputs from Reuters)
