Putin cements ties with Iranian president in Central Asia meeting

Russia's Vladimir Putin held talks with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on Friday in Turkmenistan, where the two leaders hailed their countries' growing economic ties and similar views on world affairs, an entente viewed with concern by the United States.

At odds with Washington and the European Union over Russia's war in Ukraine, something he casts as part of a wider existential struggle against an arrogant and self-interested West - Putin is keen to deepen ties with what he calls the Global East and Global South.

Putin, whose country is hosting a summit of the BRICS nations in Kazan on Oct. 22-24, invited Pezeshkian to come to Russia on an official visit, a proposal the Iranian leader accepted, according to Russia's state RIA news agency.

"Economically and culturally, our communications are being strengthened day by day and becoming more robust," Pezeshkian was cited as telling Putin by Iran's official IRNA news agency.

"The growing trend of cooperation between Iran and Russia, considering the will of the top leaders of both countries, must be accelerated to strengthen these ties," he said.

In a later report from Dubai, Russia's TASS news agency quoted the Iranian president, in a video issued by his office, as saying the two sides had agreed to boost cooperation in a number of areas.

"Our talks with the Russian president lasted about an hour. And we talked again about agreements that we have concluded," the report quoted him as saying.

"We have constructive interaction. We agreed to speed up the completion of projects in the gas sectors, in road and rail construction, desalination and other projects linked to energy, petrochemicals and electricity."

Pezeshkian last month committed his country to deeper ties with Russia to counter Western sanctions. The two countries say they are close to signing a strategic partnership agreement, something Pezeshkian said on Friday he hoped could be finalised at the BRICS summit in Russia later this month.

The United States regards Moscow's growing relationship with Tehran with concern. It has accused Iran of supplying Russia with ballistic missiles for use in the conflict in Ukraine, something Tehran has denied.

Russia says cooperation with Iran is expanding in all areas.

"We actively work together in the international arena, and our assessments of current events in the world are often very close," TASS cited Putin as telling Pezeshkian on the sidelines of the conference in the Turkmen capital of Ashgabat.

Pezeshkian, according to IRNA, noted that Iran and Russia had significant complementary capacities and could assist each other. "Our positions in the world are much closer to each other than to others," he was quoted as telling the Russian leader.

Pezeshkian said earlier that Israel should "stop killing innocent people," and its actions in the Middle East were backed by the U.S. and EU. Russia has also criticized Israel, which says it is protecting its own security, for bombing civilian areas.

Putin was cited by TASS as telling Pezeshkian that economic ties between Moscow and Tehran were on the up.

In comments released by the Kremlin earlier on Friday, Putin told the conference in the Central Asian country that a new world order was being formed and that new centers of economic growth and financial and political influence were emerging.

Russia supported "the broadest possible international discussion" on the emerging multipolar world and was open to discussing it within various fora, including the Commonwealth of Independent States, the Eurasian Economic Union, the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, and BRICS, said Putin.

Reuters