TEHRAN, March 29. /TASS/. Moscow and Tehran have reached a new stage of cooperation, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani told reporters on Wednesday summing up his recent visit to Russia.
Rouhani said the talks in Moscow were "fruitful" and the sides discussed the situation in Syria, Iraq, Yemen, regional issues, Afghanistan, security in Central Asia and in the Caucasus.
"Relations between Iran and Russia have entered a new stage. Today we have many major long-term projects, including in energy, and also in oil and gas production, which are already either fulfilled or are at the final stage of talks and close to implementation," Rouhani said, according to the IRNA news agency.
The Iranian leader said the two countries have great opportunities, high potential and political will to further develop relations. "For us, cooperation with Russia both at the international level and in ensuring regional security is very important."
Over the past two years Russia and Iran have been closely cooperating in the fight against terrorism and taking joint efforts for restoring peace and stability in the region and in resolving the Syrian and Iraqi conflicts, Rouhani said, stressing that this is "constructive cooperation."
Russia is part of the P5+1 group (UN Security Council’s five permanent members plus Germany) for solving the Iranian nuclear issue, Rouhani said. "It provided huge assistance to Iran in developing peaceful nuclear technologies," he said, adding that cooperation in transit of goods is also very important.
"Our countries have been making efforts on launching the North-South Transport Corridor that links the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman with Eastern and Northern Europe. The transit route Bandar Abbas (largest Iranian port on the coast of the Persian Gulf) - Moscow is of great importance for us," the president said.
Rouhani highly assessed the outcome of his talks in Moscow with President Vladimir Putin and Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev on March 27-28. "We are closely cooperating with Russia both in bilateral and in various trilateral formats. This cooperation may bring significant good to our region and positively influence its future," the president said.