MESOP NEWS : Iran, Russia Tightening Security Cooperation

TEHRAN (FNA)- 2 Feb 2016 – Iranian Supreme Leader’s top adviser Ali Akbar Velayati and Secretary of the Russian Security Council Nikolay Patrushev said on Tuesday that the two regional allies are determined to enhance cooperation in security.

In a Tuesday meeting in Moscow, Patrushev said the two sides have built long-term, strategic relations in various fields, and that senior officials are doing everything they can to tighten mutual cooperation even further.

“Iran and Russia share common stand in combatting terrorism and extremism in the region. Broader relations in other areas could further help ensure regional peace and stability,” Patrushev added. Velayati, for his part, said the two countries have long-term, strategic and irreversible relations in different spheres, adding, “Our high-ranking officials are working hard to keep it that way, especiually now that we have stepped into a unique phase in our strategic relations.”

Velayati headed to Moscow on Monday for talks with Russian officials on the latest bilateral and regional developments. “We will discuss mutual cooperation in political, security, strategic and regional affairs,” he had told journalists before leaving Tehran for Moscow on Monday morning. “Relations between the two sides are strategic, and the Russian president has voiced full support for Iran’s membership at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and the BRICS group (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa),” the leader’s top aide added. According to Velayati, Iran’s membership bids were backed during the recent visit by President Vladimir Putin to Tehran and his meeting with Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei. The leader’s top aide is scheduled to meet President Putin and other senior Russian officials during his stay in Moscow.

Last December, Iranian Supreme Leader’s Deputy Chief of Office for International Affairs and Relations Ayatollah Mohsen Qomi traveled to Moscow nearly one month after President Putin held a meeting with Ayatollah Khamenei in Tehran on November 23.During the meeting, Ayatollah Khamenei told Putin that the US has a long-term plan to dominate the entire West Asian region, cautioning that Washington is also seeking to achieve its goals through negotiations after its failure in the battlefield in Syria. The Supreme Leader praised Moscow’s effective presence on regional scenes, specially Syria, and welcomed further expansion of “bilateral, regional and international cooperation”.

He said the US has a long-term plan to dominate the entire region of West Asia. “This long-term plan of the United States is harmful to all the nations and countries, specially Iran and Russia and it should be defused through vigilance and closer interaction.”

The Iranian Leader described Putin as a remarkable figure in the contemporary world, and appreciated Russia’s efforts in resolving Iran’s nuclear issue. Ayatollah Khamenei said Iran’s nuclear issue seems to be in its last chapter, “but we do not at all trust the Americans and are watching the US administration’s behavior and performance in this regard with our eyes open wide”. He further noted the seriousness that both the Russian president and Iranian officials have shown to expand bilateral ties between the two states, and said the Tehran-Moscow cooperation can be promoted way beyond its present level, specially in economic fields.

The Iranian leader also praised the Russian president’s stances on different issues, particularly in the last one and a half years, as “very good” and “innovative”, and said, “Americans always try to push their rivals into a passive stance, but you have defused this policy.”He voiced satisfaction in Iran-Russia security and political cooperation, and said Moscow’s decision and moves on the Syrian issue have increased the regional and global credit of both Russia and Mr. Putin. “The Americans are seeking to first dominate Syria and then spread their control over the region in a bid to fill their historical gap of lack of domination and control over West Asia, and this long-term plot is a threat to all nations and states, Russia and Iran in particular,” Ayatollah Khamenei warned.