Russia sees Iran as ‘strategic partner’: Russian amb. to Iran

Russian Ambassador to Iran Levan Dzhagaryan told Interfax that new US sanctions will not affect the cooperation between Moscow and Tehran in various spheres, including the military-technical cooperation, adding that Russia's attitude towards partnership with Iran will not be affected by the west accusations against Iran regarding supporting terrorism, as well as the US administration’s attempts to ‘punish’ the Islamic Republic for the development of the missile program.

In relation to Iran and Russia’s involvement in Syria, Dzhagaryan said “I would like to note that Iran and Russia are in Syria with one single goal - to fight terrorism, and they arrived there at the invitation of the legitimate government of the Syrian Arab Republic. Recently, statements were made by the senior Assistant to the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Iran, Hossein Jaberi Ansari, who stated that as soon as the Iranian military advisers fulfill their mission in Syria, they will leave it in an agreement with Damascus. Eventually, all foreign military forces must leave Syria’s territory as the situation in the sovereign state of Syria stabilizes and final victory over terrorism has been obtained. At the same time, I would like to stress once again that all the countries involved in the Syrian conflict must respect the state sovereignty and territorial integrity of Syria and stop interfering in the internal affairs of the nation.”

Regarding the US attempts to accuse Iran of providing ballistic missiles to Ansarullah movement in Yemen, Russian ambassador to Iran said “the evidence provided by the Americans is insufficient and do not show any involvement of Iran in these supplies,” adding “I often have to communicate with Iranian colleagues from various departments, and all of them unanimously deny Tehran's involvement in supplying the Houthies ​​with weapons and missiles in particular.”

With regard to Iran and Saudi relationship and the role that Russia can play to get them closer to each other, Dzhagaryan said that Russia hopes that it can mediate between the two Middle Eastern countries to normalize their relations for the sake of stability in the Persian Gulf region.

KI