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Expert confident Tehran will develop ties with Moscow regardless of who wins election

According to Kayhan Barzegar, all candidates showed a predisposition for BRICS and the SCO during their election campaigns

MOSCOW, June 28. /TASS/. Relations between Iran and Russia will develop further regardless of who wins today’s presidential election in the Islamic Republic, a leading Iranian expert said at a session of the Valdai International Discussion Club on the election in Iran.

"Whoever becomes president [of Iran], he will develop relations with Russia anyway, because geopolitical factors dictate this path," said Kayhan Barzegar, chair of the Department of Political Science and International Relations at the Islamic Azad University, Science and Research Branch, Tehran.

"We can see that the relations between Iran and Russia are not a military coalition, but rather a political and economic collation, sharing transport corridors and having links with such organizations as the SCO (Shanghai Cooperation Organization - TASS) and BRICS, and this indicates that we can discuss issues and somehow circumvent sanctions," the expert explained.

According to Barzegar, all candidates showed a predisposition for BRICS and the SCO during their election campaigns. "No matter who becomes president, be it a reformist or a moderate conservative <…> the president and the foreign minister will pursue a foreign policy prioritizing relations with the non-Western world either way," he concluded.

On Friday, Iran is holding an early presidential election following the death of President Ebrahim Raisi in a helicopter crash on May 19. Four politicians are running for president, three conservatives and a reformist.

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