Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian departed for Moscow on Tuesday evening, where he will hold talks with top Russian officials, including his counterpart Sergey Lavrov.
Amir-Abdollahian and Lavrov are expected to meet on Wednesday.
Speaking to reporters before boarding the flight at Tehran airport, the top Iranian diplomat said the main agenda of the visit was to end the simmering war in Ukraine.
He said some European countries have approached Tehran to play an active role in resolving the crisis, without naming them.
Iran, a key regional ally of Russia, has repeatedly called for an end to hostilities between Russia and Ukraine while stopping short of condemning Moscow’s military invasion of the former Soviet republic, which is now in its seventh month.
Earlier on Tuesday, a Pentagon spokesman said the first shipment of Iranian unmanned aerial vehicles had arrived in Russia.
Politico cited the spokesman saying that Russia had received two types of drones from Iran, the Mohajer-6 and Shahed-series.
Iran has not commented on the US claim. However, in July, Iran’s foreign minister in a phone call with his Ukrainian counterpart rejected the reports of Iran sending drones to Russia as baseless.
Amir-Abdollahian said his talks in Moscow will also take up developments in neighboring Afghanistan and bilateral issues between Tehran and Moscow.
In a separate statement, the Russian Foreign Ministry said the meeting between Amir-Abdollahian and Lavrov will focus on “reaching the finish line” of the Iran nuclear deal, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).
The talks to salvage the deal have entered the final stretch, with Tehran and Washington presently exchanging comments on the European Union’s new draft proposal.
Russia, one of the signatories of the original deal signed in 2015 between Iran and world powers, has played a key role in the Vienna talks aimed at reviving the accord.
The ministry statement further said that Ukraine, Syria, Iran-Russia military cooperation, and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) will also feature in discussions between the two top diplomats.
Amir-Abdollahian’s visit to Moscow comes more than two months after Lavrov’s trip to Tehran during which the two sides emphasized the need for “comprehensive expansion of cooperation and interaction”.
Source: Anadolu Agency