MOSCOW, March 30. /TASS/. Russia and Iran are ready to sign a strategic partnership agreement, Zelensky hedges his bets if Artyomovsk falls and Finland joining NATO is fraught with a direct NATO Russia conflict. These stories topped Thursday’s newspaper headlines across Russia.The foreign ministries of Russia and Iran will finalize a draft of a comprehensive treaty on a bilateral strategic partnership while the document itself may be signed during Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s visit to Tehran in the near future, his Iranian counterpart Hossein Amir Abdollahian said during his visit to Moscow on March 29.Russia and Iran have been working on an updated treaty for several years, says Research Fellow at the Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies at MGIMO Adlan Margoev. The previous such treaty was concluded in an entirely different era of bilateral and international relations. Judging by open information, now we are talking about recognizing each other as strategic partners and, according to this status, developing relations in the long term, the expert notes. The new strategic partnership document is the main subject of the talks in Moscow; it has taken years to sign because of various disagreements and the need to take sanctions risks into account, notes Russian International Affairs Council expert Kirill Semenov. Now both sides are ready because both are under comparable sanctions pressure. Apparently, the document will indeed be ready in the near future, the expert asserts. According to him, the new approach to relations in the Middle East will be based on Iran’s refusal to clash with Saudi Arabia and its allies. Currently, the framework for multilateral interaction is being shaped in the region by Russia, Turkey and China, Semenov says. In this context, the SCO has the opportunity of becoming a global Eurasian platform without the US or the EU’s participation. The expert notes that not only Saudi Arabia but also Turkey is interested in interacting with the SCO. Saudi Arabia’s interest in China and the SCO stems from its realization that it is no longer possible to resolve the region’s problems with the US’ help alone and ties with the US leave something to be desired for Riyadh, Margoev says. The American factor in the region cannot be eradicated even in decades but it is possible to reduce the US’ influence on the region. China’s mediation between Iran and Saudi Arabia has demonstrated this for the first time. Russia is not simply fine with this outcome but this is precisely what Moscow has been waiting for for a long time, the expert concluded.

Text to Speech

Select Voice

Volume

1

Rate

1

Pitch

1

MOSCOW, March 30. /TASS/. Russia and Iran are ready to sign a strategic partnership agreement, Zelensky hedges his bets if Artyomovsk falls and Finland joining NATO is fraught with a direct NATO Russia conflict. These stories topped Thursday’s newspaper headlines across Russia.The foreign ministries of Russia and Iran will finalize a draft of a comprehensive treaty on a bilateral strategic partnership while the document itself may be signed during Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s visit to Tehran in the near future, his Iranian counterpart Hossein Amir Abdollahian said during his visit to Moscow on March 29.Russia and Iran have been working on an updated treaty for several years, says Research Fellow at the Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies at MGIMO Adlan Margoev. The previous such treaty was concluded in an entirely different era of bilateral and international relations. Judging by open information, now we are talking about recognizing each other as strategic partners and, according to this status, developing relations in the long term, the expert notes. The new strategic partnership document is the main subject of the talks in Moscow; it has taken years to sign because of various disagreements and the need to take sanctions risks into account, notes Russian International Affairs Council expert Kirill Semenov. Now both sides are ready because both are under comparable sanctions pressure. Apparently, the document will indeed be ready in the near future, the expert asserts. According to him, the new approach to relations in the Middle East will be based on Iran’s refusal to clash with Saudi Arabia and its allies. Currently, the framework for multilateral interaction is being shaped in the region by Russia, Turkey and China, Semenov says. In this context, the SCO has the opportunity of becoming a global Eurasian platform without the US or the EU’s participation. The expert notes that not only Saudi Arabia but also Turkey is interested in interacting with the SCO. Saudi Arabia’s interest in China and the SCO stems from its realization that it is no longer possible to resolve the region’s problems with the US’ help alone and ties with the US leave something to be desired for Riyadh, Margoev says. The American factor in the region cannot be eradicated even in decades but it is possible to reduce the US’ influence on the region. China’s mediation between Iran and Saudi Arabia has demonstrated this for the first time. Russia is not simply fine with this outcome but this is precisely what Moscow has been waiting for for a long time, the expert concluded.