Iran-Russia Defense Cooperation Vital in Current Situation

“The current situation necessitates that Iran and Russia, through the political wills of the two countries’ leaders, develop their cooperation in political, economic, and defense fields,” General Dehqan said on Wednesday.

He made the remarks in a meeting with visiting Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak in Tehran.

Dehqan also expressed the hope that the effective steps already taken for the promotion of cooperation between the two sides would lead to strengthened security and stability in the region.

Novak, for his part, said that the expansion of Tehran-Moscow economic relations would undoubtedly pave the way for reinforced defense ties.

The Russian minister expressed the hope that, given the strong wills of the two countries’ leaders, Iran-Russia ties would flourish and develop in all fields.

In the meeting, the two sides also conferred on the fight against terrorism and adoption of coordinated stances and increased cooperation in support for the countries fighting in the frontline of the war against terrorist groups.

They also described as “necessary” and “unavoidable” the fight against this “inauspicious phenomenon”.

Since late September, Russia has been carrying out bombings against the ISIL terrorist group in Syria, after the Russian parliament granted President Vladimir Putin authorization to deploy the country's air force abroad.

Iran has welcomed the Russian involvement to help settle the protracted crisis in the Arab country.

Syria has been entangled in civil war since March 2011. The ISIL Takfiri group now controls parts of the Arab country, mostly in the east.

In the past four and half years, more than 240,000 people have died in Syria -overwhelmingly civilians- and around 4 million Syrian people are now refugees in other countries. Around 8 million others have been displaced internally.