In an interview with IRNA’s political correspondent on Sunday, Hossein Shahpari said that Russia had a top-down look towards Iran until the Islamic Revolution in 1979 which led to the establishment of the Islamic Republic.
But Iran adopted an independent foreign policy since then and its ties with Russia has been in a balance, the expert said.
He added that Iran-Russia relations were not based on the potentials of both countries in recent years and there seems to be a change in both countries leaders’ attitudes since President Ebrahim Raisi took office in Iran.
Iran and Russia both want to deepen their ties in economy, energy, and transportation areas, Shahpari said, noting that the composition of the delegation companying Raisi in his Russia trip indicated Iran’s determination in this regard.
Russia is among countries targeted by US and EU sanctions and Tehran and Moscow can extensively cooperate to circumvent and neutralize sanctions, Shahpari opined.
Iran and Russia have collectively the largest gas reserve in the world and they are among the founding members of the Gas OPEC, the expert went on to say, adding that Iran’s initiative in the organization led to the fixed pricing of gas in a global scale.
He also said that Iran and Russia have needs in agriculture and can help each other neutralize sanctions.
Shahpari rejected arguments that say Russia’s economy has little capacity to help Iran’s economy evade sanctions, stating that Russia and China have managed to remove dollar from their transactions with monetary agreements and this indicates that how Tehran and Moscow can cooperate on sanctions.
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