MOSCOW, October 25. /TASS/. Russia plans to develop defense cooperation with Iran on a mutually advantageous basis, while taking advantage of the lifting of certain restrictions on Tehran, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov told reporters.

"We will develop our [military-technical] cooperation on a mutually advantageous basis, like we did before, in full compliance with international commitments and existing regimes in this field," the senior Russian diplomat said. Now that some restrictions under United Nations Security Council Resolution 2231 have been lifted on Iran, "we will naturally make use of" the opportunities that offers, he added.

Russia and Iran have been maintaining cooperation "strictly within the legal framework." In this light, he noted that Moscow and Tehran saw "politicized attempts of all kinds to hamper" such bilateral Russian-Iranian defense cooperation, "including with the use of illegitimate unilateral sanctions regimes." "We will be looking to safeguard ourselves from such negative and harmful influences," Ryabkov concluded.