Iran’s president to meet Putin in Moscow, says Iranian media

Iranian president Massoud Pezeshkian will meet his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in Moscow next week, Iranian media reported.

Pezeshkian is due to visit Russia for a meeting of gas-exporting countries.

Russia and Iran, two of the most sanctioned nations on earth, have grown closer together in the years since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

“The Iranian president will visit Moscow to attend the summit of gas-exporting countries that will take place on Tuesday, Oct 27,” the Tasnim news agency reported, citing Tehran’s ambassador to the country, Kazem Jalali.

The two leaders will discuss economic cooperation as well as “questions of geopolitics”, Jalali was quoted as saying.

On Friday, Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi signalled that talks between Tehran and Moscow would take place next week with both presidents in attendance.

His Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov visited Iran this week for the first time since the start of the Middle East war, with Araghchi declaring Russo-Iranian cooperation closer than ever.

In early October, Putin said Russia was prepared to take part in mediation to bring an end to the war started by the US and Israel in February.

Negotiations between Washington and Tehran have been stalled for months, with both the US and Israel threatening to resume their strikes on Iran.