Shoigu Pays Unannounced Visit To Iran
- 18.09.2024, 6:01
The US is concerned about the ties developing between Russia and Iran.
On Tuesday, Iran's president promised his country deeper ties with Russia to counter Western sanctions, Iranian state media reported, amid US concerns that Tehran is supplying Moscow with missiles to strike Ukraine. The news was reported by the Reuters agency.
Russia's top security official Sergei Shoigu arrived in the Iranian capital days after meeting North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Pyongyang. Russia has been seeking to develop ties with the two countries, both of which are hostile to the United States, over two and a half years of conflict with Ukraine, the agency said.
‘My government will seriously follow the ongoing cooperation and measures to raise the level of relations between the two countries,’ the state-run IRNA news agency quoted Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian as saying to Russian Security Council Secretary Shoigu.
The United States has been watching Moscow's developing relations with Pyongyang and Tehran with concern and says both countries are supplying Russia with ballistic missiles to be used in the conflict in Ukraine.
Iran denies sending ballistic missiles to Russia. Moscow has said only that Iran is Russia's partner in every possible field.
Shoigu's foreign visits come at a crucial time in the war, when Kyiv is pressuring the United States and its allies to seek permission to use Western long-range weapons against targets deep inside Russian territory.
Vladimir Putin said last week that if Western countries allowed Ukraine to use long-range weapons, it would be a direct confrontation with Russia and Moscow would retaliate.
Iran's Nour news agency, affiliated with Iran's Supreme National Security Council, reported that Shoigu met with his Iranian counterpart Ali Akbar Ahmadian. There have been no reports yet on the outcome of that meeting.
Russia has repeatedly said it is close to signing a major agreement with Iran to cement the strategic partnership between the two countries.