Shoigu Meets Iranian Defense Chief in Tehran

Top Russian security official Sergei Shoigu held talks with his Iranian counterpart in Tehran, Russian and Iranian media said, days after meeting North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Pyongyang.

Russia has deepened ties with Iran and North Korea, both of which are hostile to the United States, since the start of its war in Ukraine.

The United States views the growing relationships with concern and says both countries are supplying Russia with ballistic missiles for use in the conflict, something Moscow denies.

Shoigu's trips are taking place at a crucial moment in the two-and-a-half-year war, as Kyiv presses the United States and its allies to let it use Western-supplied long-range weapons to strike targets such as airfields deep inside Russian territory.

President Vladimir Putin said last week that Western countries would be fighting Russia directly if they gave the green light, and that Moscow would respond.

Shoigu met his Iranian opposite number, Ali Akbar Ahmadian. There was no immediate information on the outcome of the meeting.

Russia has repeatedly said it is close to signing a major agreement with Iran to seal a strategic partnership between the two countries.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian says relations between Iran and Russia will continue to expand along a permanent and lasting path.

Pezeshkian said boosting cooperation between Tehran and Moscow will undermine the effectiveness of sanctions and the unjust actions against both countries.

Pezeshkian made the remarks in a meeting with Russia’s Security Council Secretary Sergei Shoigu in the capital Tehran, emphasizing the history of constructive relations between the two sides.

Shoigu, for his part, emphasized that Russian President Vladimir Putin had asked him to convey to the senior Iranian officials that Russia’s position on cooperation with Iran on regional issues has not changed.