Russia says it expects to sign a new agreement on comprehensive cooperation with Iran “in the very near future”.
Deputy Russian Foreign Minister Andrei Rudenko was speaking to Russia’s RIA state news agency in an interview published on Tuesday. “We expect that this agreement will be signed in the very near future, since work on the text is already close to completion. All the necessary wording has been found,” RIA cited Rudenko as saying.
Russia and Iran signed a 20-year strategic agreement in 2001, which was automatically extended in 2020 for five years. Both sides also agreed in 2020 to work on a new pact that would replace the old document. The 2001 pact called, amongst others, for cooperation in security, energy projects, including the peaceful use of nuclear energy and the construction of nuclear power plants, industry and technology.
Very few details have emerged on what the new agreement will include. After Russia entered Ukraine in 2022 and subsequent sanctions against Moscow, Russia and Iran have firmed investment, military and energy ties.
Meanwhile in a separate event a few weeks ago, Bahrain sent a request via Russia to re-establish diplomatic relations with Iran.
This comes after several public statements by Bahraini officials expressing openness to restoring ties with Iran after years of tensions between the two countries. Bharain had cut off diplomatic relations with Tehran in 2016 following a spike in tensions between Saudi Arabia and Iran. Bahrain had also accused Iran of involvement in anti-government protests that swept the country in 2011.
Saudi Arabia normalised its own relations with Iran as part of a Chinese-brokered agreement last year. Last month, during a visit to Moscow, Bahrain’s King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa said the Gulf island looks forward to improved relations with Iran. Bahrain’s state news agency BNA cited him as saying that there was no reason to delay the resumption of relations between the two countries.
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