Iran’s Zarif to visit Moscow next week
Foreign minister's trip comes amid talks on Tehran buying advanced S-300 Russian air defense system
Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif will head to Moscow next week in the latest in a series of visits to the Russian capital by top regime officials.
Two weeks ago, the elusive commander of the Quds Force, the foreign operational arm of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, seemingly flouted a UN-imposed travel ban to meet with Russian officials there.
Zarif’s visit “is expected next week. The exact date will be announced in the coming days,” an official at Iran’s Moscow embassy said, according to Reuters quoting Russia’s Tass news agency.
Russia and the Islamic Republic have traditionally been strong trading partners, particularly in the fields of military hardware and gas and oil exports, but trade dwindled as Russia implemented international sanctions from 2010 onward.
Two weeks ago, Quds Force head Qassem Soleimani visited Russia for high-level talks, despite being subject to an international travel ban and asset freeze by the United Nations since 2007.
Soleimani met with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, reportedly to discuss Moscow’s planned supply of advanced air defense missiles to the Islamic Republic after it froze shipments of the S-300 missile system in 2010 due to UN sanctions on Iran.
AP and Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.