Moscow says Western sanctions will not stop economic cooperation between Russia and Iran.
According to Sputnik, the Russian Foreign Ministry said the West’s hostile actions and its sanctions against Iran and Russia cannot prevent the two countries from developing mutually beneficial bilateral cooperation across a wide range of fields.
Pointing to the statistics on the volume of foreign trade between the two countries, the ministry said economic cooperation and bilateral trade between Russia and Iran stood at $2.7 billion in January–July 2022 — 42.7% up on the same period last year.
The ministry added that progress has also been made in negotiations on a comprehensive free trade agreement between Iran and the Eurasian Economic Union.
Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian will travel to Moscow on a working visit on Wednesday, where he will meet and hold talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
The two ministers are expected to discuss the state of Iran’s nuclear deal, joint Russian-Iranian energy and transport projects, and a number of regional issues, including Ukraine, Syria and Afghanistan.
A few days earlier, the American newspaper The Wall Street Journal, in an analytical report by Benoît Faucon, wrote that Russia and Iran are strengthening their ties despite the Western sanctions against both countries — a trend causing concern in Washington.
The author added: Iran and Russia have grown closer than ever. Efforts to isolate the two countries internationally have pushed these two staunch adversaries of the United States towards ever deeper military and commercial cooperation — something that rings alarm bells in Washington.
The Wall Street Journal’s writer notes that the two countries are partners in opposing the current US-led world order, and both are feeling the effects of tough American sanctions. A closer Russia-Iran alliance could help the two countries soften the impact of Western sanctions by finding new markets for their products and stepping up military cooperation.
The American newspaper concluded by noting that bilateral trade between Russia and Iran has grown 10% this year, after rising 80% in 2021 to $4 billion.
Mehr News Agency
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