Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told a news conference on Wednesday that Moscow was preparing to sign a “major treaty with Iran.”
She said the treaty with Iran was Security pact Russia signed with North Korea, which caused great alarm in the free world and considerable anxiety in China.
“Right now we are working on a treaty. You’ve probably heard it before, but I would ask you again not to use the phrase ‘it’s the same as the treaty with North Korea.’ Right now we are working on a big treaty with Iran,” Zakharova said. Said.
Several other Russian officials have also signaled that a deal with Iran, at least two years in the making, could be signed soon. The foreign ministers of Iran and Russia both expressed their determination to finalize the agreement at a meeting of foreign ministers of the BRICS, an economic bloc led by China and Russia, in Nizhny Novgorod in June.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said at the BRICS summit that “we can do this” once some final steps were taken by Iran, following comments made around the same time by Iran indicating there were no problems or delays on its side.
On Tuesday, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrey Rudenko Said A comprehensive agreement with Iran is expected to be concluded in the “very near future” and the agreement text is “already close to being finalized.”
On the same day, Russia’s Gazprom Signed It signed a memorandum of understanding with the National Iranian Gas Company (NIGC) to supply Russian gas to Iran as Gazprom desperately seeks customers to replace the European suppliers it lost after Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022.
Russia and Iran already have a strategic agreement, signed in 2001 and extended for five years in 2020. The new deal has been touted as a significant strengthening of that pact.
Zakharova said in January 2024 that the leaders of Iran and Russia would “meet in the near future” to sign the agreement, which is currently being finalized. Since her comments, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi killed He died in a helicopter crash and Iran is due to hold a sham election on Friday to choose his successor.
