President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Mr President,
I am happy to meet with you once again.
Relations between Russia and Iran are developing in all areas that have taken shape over many years.
Just as you and I had agreed, we have done everything possible to make Iran a full-fledged member of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation. Our SCO partners supported your application. Following the last formality, and indeed this is a formality, Iran will join this serious, large and influential international organisation. We are very happy to see this.
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Bilateral cooperation, including high-tech cooperation, also continues to develop. As you know, the Khayyam remote sensing satellite, developed by Russian enterprises as per your request, lifted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome on August 9.
We are finalising a new major Russian-Iranian treaty that will elevate our relations to the level of strategic partnership.
In 2021, mutual trade grew by 81 percent, and increased by an additional 30 percent in the first five months of 2022. Members of the inter-governmental commission are working actively. Next week, a large Russian business delegation involving about 80 Russian companies will travel to Iran.
Members of the first such business mission visited Iran in May 2022, and I would like to say that many delegation members later shared their impressions with me. They were very happy with what they saw at Iranian enterprises, in the context of high-tech development. To be honest, we did not expect this. Consequently, we and I personally would like to congratulate you on this.
Inter-regional ties continue to develop. We cooperate actively on the international scene, and we have close or coinciding views (as diplomats say) on many issues.
I recall how Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of Iran, warmly received us in Tehran not so long ago. Many projects are making headway thanks to his support. I would like to ask you to convey my best wishes to him.
President of the Islamic Republic of Iran Seyyed Ebrahim Raisi (retranslated): In the name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful,
Mr President,
I am again very happy to have this opportunity to meet with you. And I feel very flattered that you said that since our last meeting our agreements have been successfully implemented, they are being put into effect.
Thank you very much, and I want to thank the Russian Federation for your support of Iran’s full-fledged membership in the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation.
As for the bilateral agenda, we have the necessary will to develop these relations. You know, our relations are not ordinary; they are strategic and have a strategic value. We need to develop our cooperation in the political, economic, commercial areas, in aeronautics and space exploration.
Your visit to the Islamic Republic of Iran was successful. We met with each other there, and you also had a meeting with our Supreme Leader. Following that meeting, the Supreme Leader, His Holiness, gave us instructions and we are implementing them in full.
We believe that the Islamic Republic of Iran’s membership in the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation is the kind of partnership and mutual cooperation that would benefit not only the Islamic Republic of Iran, but all members of this organisation in general.
Thank you so much and thanks to the Russian Federation for your active support for Iran’s acceptance as a full-fledged member of the EAEU and BRICS. We know that this is also a mutual partnership that will serve in the interests of the entire region, and it will strengthen our ties.
All issues on the bilateral agenda are under the auspices of the Vice-President of the Islamic Republic of Iran, as well as the Foreign Minister. We should do concrete work on the issue of holding a meeting of the intergovernmental commission of the Islamic Republic and the Russian Federation. It is necessary to implement the existing agreements and turn them into practical deeds as soon as possible.
You know, the Americans think so, or they believe that by declaring sanctions against a state, they can impair its willpower and forward movement. However, I believe that they are miscalculating; this is a mistake. For years, they have been imposing sanctions on us, we are facing their unilateral sanctions, but the people of the Islamic Republic of Iran have managed to avert this threat and the sanctions that they are imposing on us.
Regarding the sanctions against the Russian Federation, we do not recognise these sanctions, we will never recognise them, and we will strengthen and expand our relations with the Russian Federation in the trade and economic sphere. You know, mutual relations between such countries as the Islamic Republic of Iran and Russia that are subject to US sanctions are something that can strengthen our ties and implement our achievements and our agreements.
We are successfully implementing everything, including fiscal matters, banking issues and our relations in the trade and economic sphere, under your auspices. We know that you have issued good orders, and our project, namely, the North-South corridor, is being implemented successfully. The Islamic Republic of Iran has also issued the necessary orders, so that our colleagues address this issue post-haste in order to make all this a reality.
We believe that, considering the excellent partnership that is shaping up or that has shaped up between the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Russian Federation, we can take positive steps forward in order to completely ensure the interests of our countries.
Of course, we can push aside all the sanctions, as well as the threats that the United States of America is imposing on our countries. You know, the Islamic Republic of Iran has the required goodwill, and we are making a goodwill gesture: we never leave and will never leave the negotiating table. However, it has been proven, and the whole world knows that it is impossible to reach an agreement with the United States of America, it violates all obligations. Of course, everyone knows that the European Union is also in a passive situation, unable to keep its promises.
Vladimir Putin: It is their word, and they either keep it or not, as they see fit.
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