On Tuesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin met with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, an RIA Novosti correspondent reports.
On the Russian side, the talks were attended by Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, Rosatom head Alexey Likhachev, Transport Minister Dmitry Yadrov, Finance Minister Anton Siluanov, Health Minister Mikhail Murashko, FSVTS head Dmitry Shugayev, Russian Energy Minister Sergey Tsivilev, deputy head of the presidential administration Maxim Oreshkin and Gazprom head Alexey Miller.
Pezeshkian came to Moscow to take part in the Eighth Summit of Heads of State and Government of the Gas Exporting Countries Forum member countries.
The leaders are expected to discuss economic cooperation between Tehran and Moscow, energy security and geopolitical issues.
The previous in-person meeting between Putin and Pezeshkian took place in early October in Turkmenistan on the sidelines of the CIS summit and the Caspian Environmental Summit. At those talks, in addition to the situation in the Middle East, the discussion covered strengthening economic and strategic cooperation between the two countries in key areas, including energy.
In mid-January 2025, Putin suggested that, if the gas pipeline project to Iran is implemented, the volume of Russian supplies could eventually reach 55 billion cubic meters of gas per year. However, the president noted, it is necessary to start with small volumes, up to 2 billion cubic meters.
The gas pipeline from Russia to Iran will run through Azerbaijan.
Iran's acting oil minister, Hamid Bovard, said last week that Russia and Iran are close to a final agreement on gas supplies, with only technical issues remaining to be resolved.
The situation in the global fuel and energy complex is being complicated today by the situation in the Strait of Hormuz.
The United States and Israel began striking targets in Iran on February 28, to which the Iranian side responded with its own strikes. In mid-June, Tehran and Washington signed a memorandum on ending hostilities, but later exchanged strikes again. At present the conflict remains unresolved.
Because of the Iran-US conflict, shipping through the Strait of Hormuz has virtually stopped. This is a key route for supplies of oil, petroleum products and liquefied natural gas to the world market. As a result, fuel prices have risen in most countries.
The Kremlin previously reported that Putin, in coordination with the Iranian leader, conveyed the Iranian side's vision for a possible resolution of the conflict to US President Donald Trump. The Russian president stressed that the possibilities of diplomacy in the situation around Iran are not exhausted and that it is possible and necessary to negotiate with Tehran.