MOSCOW, July 18. /TASS/. A comprehensive treaty on strategic cooperation between Russia and Iran may be signed soon, Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in an interview with the National Iranian Radio and Television, which was broadcast on Monday on the Rossiya-24 TV channel.
"We hope that soon," he said when asked when the document was scheduled to be signed.
As Peskov noted, the Russian version of the text of the treaty was handed over to the Iranian side in mid-June and was highly praised in Tehran. "We hope that after some additional amendments, taking into account the opinion of the Iranian side, made and agreed upon, it will be possible to reach the signing quite quickly and in the near future," the Kremlin spokesman stressed.
When answering the question about when the trade turnover between Russia and Iran may increase from the current $4 billion to $10-15 billion, Peskov said that this figure may be even higher. According to him, the Russian leader "is a convinced supporter of the idea of putting forward the most ambitious goals." "I am sure that President [Vladimir] Putin believes that it is possible to reach a higher bar. These are realistic benchmarks for us, the potential of our two countries is very great, and there are great reserves, so both Moscow and Tehran have work to do, and not only in the bilateral plan," the Kremlin spokesman said.
He recalled the functioning of a temporary agreement on a free trade zone between Iran and the Eurasian Economic Union. "We hope that this agreement will become permanent, it will not remain temporary all the time, and this will give our interaction even more momentum," Peskov said.