Recently, Ashton Carter, the United States Secretary of Defense, has named Russia and Iran (as well as Daesh and China) as the main challenges to the US. In this context, Moscow and Tehran speak about strengthening cooperation on a bilateral basis and within the Shanghai Cooperation Organization.
Yevgeny Lukyanov, Deputy Secretary of the Russian Security Council, calls Iran “a close and natural partner” of Russia and says: “The relations between Tehran and Moscow are based on a long tradition of friendship and cooperation. They are distinguished by a high level of confidence, of positive dialogue, understanding and willingness to coordinate the approaches to a wide range of the global and regional issues.”
According to Lukyanov, “the past year was one of the most rewarding and effective in terms of bilateral contacts. A powerful impetus to the development of the whole complex of the interaction between our countries was given by the results of the November talks in Tehran by President Putin. A solid package of documents was signed there, designed to ensure increased cooperation in various fields.”
The Security Council attaches great importance to the contacts with partners in the Supreme National Security Council of Iran. In 2015 Russian Secretary of the Security Council Patrushev visited Tehran and the Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, Mr. Ali Shamkhani, visited Russia. “We are satisfied with the level of our cooperation with Iran on Syria and other regional issues. We share the concern of Iran on the situation in Afghanistan. We would like to see the Iranians as an observer of the SCO, being actively involved in the activities of the organization to address the challenges and threats to national security,” the Deputy Secretary of the Russian Security Council says.
Speaking about the conclusion of the international negotiations on the Iranian nuclear program, Lukyanov expresses the view that the success shows the patience and wisdom of the leadership and people of Iran. “The settlement of the situation around the Iranian nuclear program opens up new prospects for our cooperation in the economic and military- technological spheres. One of the priority tasks in the development of bilateral relations is starting practical work on specific economic projects. The decision of the Joint Intergovernmental Commission on Trade and Economic Cooperation and the results of the first meeting of the Russian-Iranian Commission for the High-Level Scientific and Technical Sphere are aimed at this. It is necessary to move to the implementation of agreements in the field of energy, including nuclear energy, the oil and gas sector, and transport,” Lukyanov is sure.
