Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister for Arab-African Affairs Hossein Jaberi Ansari made the remarks in a meeting with Alexander Prokhanov, a member of the secretariat of the Writers Union of the Russian Federation and editor-in-chief of Russia's newspaper Zavtra, in Tehran on Monday, where the two sides conferred on the latest developments in region and various aspects of Iran-Russia’s cooperation.
Prokhanov deemed the two countries’ cooperation on regional issues, particularly on Syria, ‘strategic’ and ‘forward moving’, adding “the cooperation has had an effective impact on formation of new trends in regional developments and the Astana peace talks is the exact representation of such cooperation.”
Jaberi Ansari, for his part, said the new developments in Iran-Russia’s relations are the result of close cooperation and interaction between the two countries in the region and stressed that the trilateral consultations of Iran, Russia and Turkey on the Syrian situation has been a turning point for the crisis in that war-torn country.
The Kazakh capital, Astana, has hosted two rounds of discussions between the Syrian government and opposition groups, medicated by Iran, Russia, and Turkey, since January 2017. The talks aimed at promoting the Syria-wide ceasefire between militants and the Syrian government that has been repeatedly violated. Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Monday that the Astana talks have helped revive the United Nations-backed peace negotiations in Geneva.
MS/3919496