Lavrov meets with Raisi; numerous files for negotiation

The Russian Foreign Minister is holding talks with Iranian officials. This is his first visit to Tehran since the formation of the Raisi government and the start of Russia's war against Ukraine. Cooperation between the two countries under sanctions, talks to revive the JCPOA, and the situation in Syria are on the table.

The Russian Foreign Minister met with Ebrahim Raisi during his visit to Iran on Wednesday evening (July 2). According to Iranian media reports, Raisi described the ongoing negotiations at various levels between Iran and Russia as “a sign of the serious will of the two countries to shape a new era of strategic cooperation beneficial to the two nations, including in the economic sphere.”

While supporting the speedy end of the war between Russia and Ukraine, the Iranian president has once again identified “US and NATO provocations as the cause of these conflicts” and called on Moscow and Tehran to “be active in relation to efforts to expand NATO’s influence in every region of the world, including West Asia, the Caucasus, and Central Asia.”

Lavrov's current trip to Iran is his first since the 13th government came to power in Iran in June of last year, and also his first trip after Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian has visited Moscow twice since the 13th government took office, in October and March of last year, and has also met with Lavrov on the sidelines of several other multilateral meetings. Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi also visited Moscow in January of last year (1400) and met and held talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Similarities and commonalities that have increased

Lavrov had previously participated in the Gulf Cooperation Council Foreign Ministers' meeting in Riyadh in early June, where his speeches and final statement were in tone and substance against "the Islamic Republic's escalating activities in the region and Tehran's support for proxy militia groups," and were accompanied by Russian silence.

Heavy international sanctions against Russia, which have created a similar situation for the country as Iran, are seen as a basis for new cooperation and convergence between Moscow and Tehran. This is despite the fact that numerous reports have been published in recent weeks about Iran's conquest of the oil, steel and petrochemical markets in Asia with similar Russian goods. These goods, which Russia is not allowed to export to Europe and the United States under Western sanctions, have been offered at cheaper prices in the Asian region, which constitutes the majority of the Iranian market.

However, officials in the Islamic Republic have expressed hope that Tehran and Moscow will be able to cooperate closely in the three areas of energy, trade, and transit under the new circumstances, in which both countries are in a similar situation in terms of sanctions.

Increasing trade between the two countries

Fars News Agency quoted Kazem Jalali, Iran's ambassador to Moscow, as saying, "Iran-Russia relations have entered a new stage, and the volume of trade between Iran and Russia reached $4.5 billion in 2021, while this figure was only $1.6 billion in 2019."

The extent of Russia and Iran's military and security cooperation in Syria and their joint support for the Bashar al-Assad regime are also considered another topic for Lavrov's discussion in Tehran.

Russia's increased focus on the war in Ukraine, which has apparently led to a decrease in its presence in Russia, as well as Moscow's response to the escalation of Israeli attacks on the positions and bases of the Islamic Republic and Hezbollah in Syria, are also areas of discussion for the two sides.

Although the Ukrainian war has fueled a certain tension in Russian-Israeli relations, the Kremlin does not appear to be seeking a shift in favor of overt support for the Islamic Republic or practical action against Israeli actions on Syrian soil.

Russia is one of the parties in the 4+1 group in the negotiations to revive the JCPOA. Although Moscow voted against the recent resolution of the International Atomic Energy Agency's Board of Governors against the Islamic Republic, along with China, Tehran's possible orientation towards further developing its nuclear program and moving closer to producing nuclear weapons, as well as the uncontrollable tension between Iran and Western countries and Israel, are both causes for concern and concern for Moscow.

Therefore, the Tehran talks probably cannot be without a focus on exchanging views on the next path to revive the JCPOA.

This is while there are still uncertainties about the level of Moscow's willingness and cooperation to conclude the Vienna talks. In April of this year, following the imposition of heavy Western sanctions against Russia for its attack on Ukraine, news was released that Moscow had stated that its agreement to the positive process of the talks and their conclusion was conditional on Russia-Iran relations remaining free from any influence of Western sanctions. Later, the Iranian Foreign Minister said during a visit to Russia that such a condition was not in question, and Western countries also considered Russian-Iranian nuclear cooperation based on the text of the JCPOA to be unimpeded if it was revived.

It is said that the Afghan case and the approach to the Taliban government in that country will also be discussed in the talks between Lavrov and Iranian officials. Although both Moscow and Tehran have not recognized the Taliban government, they are in close contact with it.

Source: DW