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President Putin visits Iran to bolster Moscow-Tehran relations

Russian President Vladimir Putin is currently on an official visit to the Islamic Republic of Iran. As part of his visit, President Putin held a meeting in Tehran with Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in what Russian officials told TV7 “aimed to strengthen the strategic alliance between Moscow and Tehran in the sectors of energy, the challenges Iran faces regarding the nuclear agreement and the ongoing cooperation in Syria.” Following his meeting with Iran’s supreme leader, President Putin met for a trilateral meeting with his Iranian and Azari counterparts, Hassan Rouhani and Ilham Aliyev, during which he declared that Moscow’s efforts, together with Iran and Turkey, have provided positive results in Syria, as well as the efforts to advance a political solution for the war-torn-country in the Kazakh capital of Astana. President Putin said, “Thanks to our joint efforts (with Iran) and to efforts by Turkey, as you know, the situation regarding the fight against terrorism on the territory (of Syria) is developing in a very positive way as well as the negotiation process which takes place in Astana. Its latest round has just ended with a positive result. There are still many questions and problems (regarding Syria) and none of them can be solved by one country. None of the sides, no one country can resolve this problem (the Syrian crisis) on its own,” the Russian leader declared. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani also took the opportunity to praise the Iranian-Russian cooperation, while emphasizing that Moscow and Tehran are seeking to work closer together by combining their resources in all areas.