In a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei welcomed his proposal to further develop cooperation in all areas, stressing, “the useful experiences of recent years in regional issues and bilateral ties should be exploited to reinforce and develop relations.” 

Ayatollah Khamenei said the potential for economic cooperation between the two countries is far greater than the current level, adding, “Iran and Russia can have more extensive cooperation in the transportation sector, using the important route from Chabahar port to St. Petersburg port as well as in other economic areas.”  

The Leader also noted the very good cooperation between the two countries on Syria, saying, “the results of the cooperation showed that Tehran and Moscow can fulfill common objectives in difficult arenas.”

He reiterated, “the failure of the American coalition which supports terrorists in Syria is an undeniable fact, but they are still busy scheming and plotting; therefore, the complete resolution of the Syrian issue requires the continuation of strong cooperation.”

Ayatollah Khamenei underlined “the combination of and joint resistance by Tehran and Moscow against the terrorists’ [acts of] sedition and corruption in Syria is very meaningful and has made Russia influential in the West Asia region issues.”  

“The Syrian people are the ultimate decision-makers on issues related to their country; as you mentioned, all of the issues and solutions about the Syrian government must come from within the country and the Syrian administration must not be put under pressure for the implementation of any plans, and the plans must be as comprehensive as possible,” the Leader reaffirmed.

Hailing the remarks of the Russian president on Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), and the need to honor multilateral pacts, Ayatollah Khamenei said “the US is regrettably continuing with its rogue conduct and must be confronted through reliance on wisdom and utilization of correct means.” 

He endorsed Putin’s stances on the joint resolution of regional issues without intervention by foreign sides, reiterating, “The Americans seek to interfere in all regional and global issues and to do this, they are counting on the weak officials of some countries.”

He said the bloody intervention by Saudis in some countries, including the daily crimes of this country in Yemen, contributes to Saudi Arabia’s entanglement in deep predicaments, adding, “they don’t even allow medicine and aid to reach the oppressed Yemeni people, who are plagued by contagious and deadly disease.”    

The Leader noted that cooperation to jointly counter US sanctions against Iran and Russia is beneficial, adding, “without paying attention to the negative propaganda of enemies to undermine relations between countries, we can neutralize the US sanctions and isolate it through approaches such as dropping the dollar and replacing it with national currencies in financial transactions.” 

He described Putin as a strong personality and a man of action and decision, and added, “for this reason, we can engage with Russia as a major power in talks and logical cooperation about great deeds that require resolve and effort.” 

Ayatollah Khamenei also described as “acceptable” Putin’s proposal to develop multilateral regional cooperation. 

Russian president, for his part, expressed great pleasure with his visit to Tehran and meeting the Leader of the Islamic Revolution, reiterating, “Russia considers Iran a strategic partner and great neighbor and will use any grounds and opportunity to develop and reinforce all-out ties.”  

Putin deemed his meeting with President Rouhani as very positive and noted energy, transportation, modern technologies, agriculture and joint oil, gas and energy projects as among the favorable grounds for the development of economic ties.  

The Russian president said, “Iran’s agricultural exports to Russia have increased seven-fold, but there are still great potentialities for cooperation in various sectors.”  

Putin underlined the need to safeguard stability and security in the region, saying, “Iran and Russia have attained some good results through joint cooperation in Syria and while continuing the campaign against terrorism, an appropriate political procedure must be thought out in the country.”  

He called as very effective and wise the stance of the Leader of the Islamic Revolution in the fulfillment of joint goals in Syria, underlining, “we have shown the world that we are capable of settling the issues of our very important region without need for trans-regional countries.”

Putin described the maintenance of Syria’s territorial integrity and support for its government and Bashar al-Assad, the country’s legitimate president, as a foreign policy principle of Russia and said, “Russia believes that any change and transformation in any country, including Syria, must take place from within.”  

The Russian president expressed Moscow’s support for the JCPOA, saying, “Russia objects any unilateral change in the provisions of this multilateral agreement and consider unilateralism to be trampling underfoot the international laws and order.”  

The Russian president added, “we consider changing the main principles of the International Atomic Energy Agency as an incorrect move and are against tying Iran’s nuclear program to other issues such as defense issues.”

Vladimir Putin said the defense-military cooperation between the two countries can be further developed within the framework of international regulations.

Putin noted the fact that non-regional countries seek warmongering, saying, “the US seeks interference in all issues of the world including Middle East and will even ignore the interests of its allies in this path.”

The Russian president pointed to US officials’ Russia claims regarding UNSC debates, saying, “I never thought that such measures would be adopted at this level of international relations, but we have now become accustomed to such US behavior.”    

The Russian president described reliance upon domestic capabilities as the main policy of his country in countering the US sanctions; “some Russian manufacturers and industry owners pray for continuation of US sanctions as the bans have prompted them to pay attention to their capacities.”

Putin added, “Since 2014, namely the beginning of US sanctions, Russia has largely dedicated financial resources to scientific and technological progress and has had considerable progress in biotechnology, IT, agriculture and space industries.” 

“Russia is committed to its fundamental stances and will see out any work it starts with anybody,” Putin concluded.