STORY: :: Russia's President Putin and his Iranian counterpart Pezeshkian deepen ties with a partnership pact

:: The agreement covers a range of areas including politics, security, trade, transport and energy

:: January 17, 2025

:: Moscow, Russia

Pezeshkian said Friday's signing is a sign that the two countries are entering a new chapter and that the countries would intensify cooperation across a range of areas including politics, security, trade, transport and energy.

Moscow and Tehran say their increasingly close ties are not directed against other countries.

Moscow has cultivated closer ties with Iran and other countries hostile towards the U.S., such as North Korea, since the start of the Ukraine war, and already has strategic pacts with Pyongyang and close ally Belarus, as well as a strategic partnership agreement with China.

The 20-year Russia-Iran agreement is not expected to include a mutual defense clause of the kind sealed with Minsk and Pyongyang, but is still likely to concern the West which sees both countries as malign influences on the world stage.