Russian FM meets Iranian president in Tehran

TEHRAN, June 23 (Xinhua) -- Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Wednesday met with Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi shortly after arriving in Tehran on an official visit, Iranian state IRIB TV reported.

During his two-day trip at the invitation of Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian, Lavrov is scheduled to meet senior Iranian officials to discuss the Iran nuclear deal, issues concerning Ukraine, Syria and Afghanistan, trade and energy cooperation, as well as expansion of cooperation between Tehran and the regions of Eurasia and Caucasus, the report said.

Both Iran and Russia are under the U.S. sanctions, which have limited their ability to send their huge energy reserves to global markets.

The two countries described their relations as strategic.

In July 2015, Iran signed the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) with world powers, pledging to put some curbs on its nuclear program in return for the removal of the sanctions on Tehran.

In May 2018, however, former U.S. President Donald Trump pulled his country out of the nuclear deal and reimposed unilateral sanctions on Tehran, prompting Iran to compromise some of its nuclear commitments under the agreement in retaliation.

Since April 2021, several rounds of talks have been held in Vienna between Iran and the remaining JCPOA parties to revive the deal.

Iran insists on obtaining guarantees that the succeeding U.S. governments would not drop the deal again, and calls for lifting the sanctions in a verifiable manner.