Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Iranian counterpart, President Ebrahim Raisi, discussed deepening political, trade and economic cooperation in a phone call on Saturday, their governments said in separate statements. The two leaders “touched on a number of pressing bilateral issues focusing on how to build cooperation in the political, trade and economic spheres, including in the field of transport and logistics,” the Kremlin said. “They agreed that the respective Russian and Iranian institutions will increase their contacts,” the statement added. The Iranian Presidency said Raishi welcomed “Russia’s desire to strengthen economic cooperation with the Islamic Republic”, especially the development of transport lines in the Eurasian region. “This transit route will become an attractive route for the world’s economy and trade,” Raisi was quoted as saying. The statement added that Putin expressed his sympathy to the government and people of Iran over the attack on a Shiite religious shrine in the southern Iranian city of Shiraz, which killed 15 people and injured 40 others. Putin “condemned terrorism in any form,” he said. The call comes after a meeting between senior Russian security official Nikolai Patrushev and Iran’s top security official Ali Shamkhani in Tehran on Wednesday, during which they discussed the situation in Ukraine and measures to combat “Western interference” that they called inwardly. affairs, according to Russian state media. Iran has faced backlash in recent weeks after Ukraine accused Russia of using Iranian “kamikaze” drones to attack cities and energy infrastructure in recent weeks. Iran said last week that it sold the unmanned vehicles to Russia “months” before the start of the war in Ukraine. Iranian officials have said on several occasions that Tehran had “defense” cooperation with Russia but had not supplied the Kremlin with weapons “intended to be used in the war in Ukraine.” The US and European Union have imposed sanctions on a number of Iranian entities and officials over drone sales to Russia, while Ukrainian officials have downgraded diplomatic relations. Tehran is also at loggerheads with Western leaders over their support for protests sparked by the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini while in custody, accusing them of trying to “infringe on its sovereignty”. The Kremlin also faces a growing number of critics at home as its troops suffer more defeats in Ukraine. Moscow’s army this week withdrew from the city of Kherson, the only regional capital they had captured since the invasion began in February. Putin in September claimed he had annexed the southern region “forever”. The Russian Defense Ministry said it withdrew more than 30,000 troops across the Dnieper River without losing a soldier, but Ukrainians described a chaotic retreat, with Russian troops losing their uniforms or drowning trying to escape.
