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Iranian top diplomat hands over President Rouhani’s message to Putin

MOSCOW, July 21. /TASS/. Visiting Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has handed over a message from his country’s President Hassan Rouhani to Russian leader Vladimir Putin, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Tuesday after talks with Zarif.

"Before our talks, Mr. Minister handed over a message from Iranian President Mr. Rouhani to Russian President Vladimir Putin. The message was conveyed during a telephone conversation and after that we held talks," he said.

""We noted with satisfaction the substantive nature of bilateral political dialogue, including at the top level," he said, adding that the two countries’ presidents had a telephone conversation on July 16. Apart from that, in his words, the two countries’ ministries and agencies are also maintaining close contacts. As an example, he cited cooperation between the health ministries "which exchange experience in combating the COVID-19 infection."

The Russia top diplomat said that during talks with Zarif they exchanged views on key global and regional problems. "Our positions are either identical or very close," Lavrov said.

He also said they discussed various aspects of the implementation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action on the Iranian nuclear program and agreed to spare no effort to keep it place on the basis of equal and constructive cooperation among its participants.

Other topics included the current situation in Syria following the July 1 videoconference of the heads of state of the Astana process guarantor nations - Russia, Iran and Turkey. "We agreed to continue to coordinate our actions in order to reach lasting peace and improve the humanitarian situation in that long-suffering country," he said "We think the results of the talks are quite satisfactory and agreed to keep in contact on these matters.".

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