Iranian, Russian Presidents Stress Implementation of Deals
TEHRAN (Tasnim) - The Iranian president and his Russian counterpart called for greater efforts to put into practice the agreements the two countries have struck, including those reached during the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit in Bishkek last year.
In a telephone conversation on Thursday night, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin discussed a range of issues, with the both officials urging the rapid implementation of the deals signed in the SCO summit in Kyrgyzstan in September last year.
During the conversation, Rouhani underlined that Tehran and Moscow should go through the implementation phase of the Bishkek agreements as soon as possible, and come up with plans to make greater measures in connection with their bilateral relations.
He also touched upon the negotiations between Iran and the six major world powers over Tehran’s peaceful nuclear program, and hailed Russia for playing a positive role as a member of the Group 5+1 (the five permanent UN Security Council members plus Germany) in the course of talks.
Rouhani also expressed the hope that the other members of the G5+1 (also known as P5+1 and E3+3) would contribute to the settlement of standoff over Iran’s nuclear case through “constructive interaction and fulfilling their commitments.”
Putin, for his part, welcomed any plan to accelerate the implementation of the SCO accords, and added, “Mutual cooperation between Iran and Russia should move quickly, and I will do my utmost to expand the economic cooperation between the two countries.”
Referring to Tehran’s positive role in the nuclear negotiations, Putin further pledged that Russia will spare no effort to make nuclear talks on Iran’s nuclear program yield an ultimate result.
Iran and the Group 5+1 are scheduled to hold a fresh round of talks on Tehran’s peaceful nuclear program in Vienna within the next few days.
On November 24, 2013, the two sides signed a six-month deal on Iran’s nuclear case in Geneva after several rounds of tight negotiations.
Based on the interim deal (the Joint Plan of Action), the world powers agreed to suspend some non-essential sanctions and to impose no new nuclear-related bans in return for Tehran's decision to suspend its 20% enrichment for a period of six months.