Russia Says Iran’s President Will Visit This Week and Sign Partnership Pact with Putin

08 January 2025, Iran, Tehran: Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian attends a joint press conference with Iraq's Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani (not pictured) in Tehran. (Iranian Presidency/dpa)
08 January 2025, Iran, Tehran: Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian attends a joint press conference with Iraq's Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani (not pictured) in Tehran. (Iranian Presidency/dpa)
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Russia Says Iran’s President Will Visit This Week and Sign Partnership Pact with Putin

08 January 2025, Iran, Tehran: Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian attends a joint press conference with Iraq's Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani (not pictured) in Tehran. (Iranian Presidency/dpa)
08 January 2025, Iran, Tehran: Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian attends a joint press conference with Iraq's Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani (not pictured) in Tehran. (Iranian Presidency/dpa)

Russian President Vladimir Putin will host his Iranian counterpart this week for the signing of a broad partnership pact between Moscow and Tehran, the Kremlin said Monday.

The agreement on “comprehensive strategic partnership” between the countries will be signed during Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian's visit to Moscow on Friday, the Kremlin said.

It added that the leaders will discuss plans for expanding trade and cooperation in transport, logistics and humanitarian spheres along with “acute issues on the regional and international agenda.”

Ukraine and the West have accused Tehran of providing Moscow with hundreds of exploding drones for use on the battlefield in Ukraine and helping launch their production in Russia. The Iranian drone deliveries, which Moscow and Tehran have denied, have allowed for a barrage of long-range drone strikes on Ukraine’s infrastructure.

Iran, in turn, wants sophisticated Russian weapons like long-range air defense systems and fighter jets to help fend off possible attacks by Israel.

Tehran long has hoped to obtain advanced Sukhoi Su-35 fighter jets from Russia to upgrade its aging fleet that's been hobbled by international sanctions, but only received a few of Yak-130 trainer jets in 2023.

Pezeshkian will visit Moscow three days before the inauguration of US President-elect Donald Trump, who has pledged to broker a peace deal on Ukraine.

Iran faces increasing pressure in the Middle East. Its so-called “Axis of Resistance” has been shattered with the Palestinian group Hamas being targeted by a grinding Israeli offensive. The Lebanese group Hezbollah also has been severely hurt during a series of attacks and Israel’s ground invasion of Lebanon. Syria’s government led by Bashar al-Assad, long funded by tens of billions of dollars from Iran, has collapsed.

Meanwhile, Iran’s economy remains in tatters after the collapse of its 2015 nuclear deal with world powers. Iran also has seen its Russian-supplied S-300 anti-aircraft batteries targeted by Israel.

Tehran likely hopes to secure financial and defense promises from Moscow. However, there’s been growing discontent over Russia within Iran’s powerful Revolutionary Guard, a paramilitary force answerable only to Iran’s 85-year-old Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.

Last week, an audio recording leaked into the Iranian media with a Guard general blaming Russia for many of the woes Iran had suffered in Syria.



Russia and Ukraine to Hold First Peace Talks in Seven Weeks 

A security personnel stands guard in front of the Ciragan Palace before the third meeting between Russian and Ukrainian delegations for peace talks in Istanbul, Türkiye, 23 July 2025. (EPA)
A security personnel stands guard in front of the Ciragan Palace before the third meeting between Russian and Ukrainian delegations for peace talks in Istanbul, Türkiye, 23 July 2025. (EPA)
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Russia and Ukraine to Hold First Peace Talks in Seven Weeks 

A security personnel stands guard in front of the Ciragan Palace before the third meeting between Russian and Ukrainian delegations for peace talks in Istanbul, Türkiye, 23 July 2025. (EPA)
A security personnel stands guard in front of the Ciragan Palace before the third meeting between Russian and Ukrainian delegations for peace talks in Istanbul, Türkiye, 23 July 2025. (EPA)

Russian negotiators flew to Türkiye to hold peace talks with Ukraine on Wednesday, the Kremlin said, before what will be the first direct discussions between the warring sides in more than seven weeks. 

Russia played down expectations of any breakthrough at the meeting, which Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said this week should focus in part on preparing a summit between himself and President Vladimir Putin. 

"Naturally, no one expects an easy road. Naturally, this will be a very difficult conversation. The projects (of the two sides) are diametrically opposed," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters. 

Previous talks in Istanbul on May 16 and June 2 led to the exchange of thousands of prisoners of war and the remains of dead soldiers. But those meetings lasted less than three hours in total and made no breakthrough towards a ceasefire or a settlement to end almost three and a half years of war. 

US President Donald Trump last week threatened heavy new sanctions on Russia and countries that buy its exports unless a peace deal was reached within 50 days. 

But three sources close to the Kremlin told Reuters that Putin, unfazed by Trump's ultimatum, would keep on fighting in Ukraine until the West engaged on his terms for peace, and that his territorial demands may widen as Russian forces advance. 

On Wednesday, Russia said its forces had captured the settlement of Varachyne in Ukraine's Sumy region, where Putin has ordered his troops to create a buffer zone after Ukraine mounted a shock incursion into Russia last year and held onto a chunk of its territory for months. Reuters could not independently confirm the battlefield report. 

In recent weeks, Russian forces have launched some of their heaviest air attacks of the war, focusing especially on the Ukrainian capital Kyiv. 

Ukraine has hit back with attacks of its own, and last month inflicted serious damage on Russia's nuclear-capable strategic bomber fleet by smuggling drones close to air bases deep inside the country. 

CONFLICTING DEMANDS 

Zelenskiy said earlier this week that the agenda for talks was clear: the return of prisoners of war and of children abducted by Russia, and the preparation of a meeting between himself and Putin. 

Putin turned down a previous challenge from Zelenskiy to meet him in person and has said he does not see him as a legitimate leader because Ukraine, which is under martial law, did not hold new elections when Zelenskiy's five-year mandate expired last year. Russia also denies abducting children. 

The Kremlin said this week it was unrealistic to expect "miracles" from the talks. 

At the last meeting on June 2, Russia handed Ukraine a memorandum setting out its key demands, including: full withdrawal of Ukrainian forces from four regions of the country that Russia has claimed as its own; limits on the size of Ukraine's military; enhanced rights for Russian-speakers in Ukraine; and acceptance by Kyiv of neutral status, outside NATO or any other alliance. 

Ukraine sees those terms as tantamount to surrender, and Zelenskiy described the Russian stance as an ultimatum. 

Ukraine wants an immediate ceasefire, reparations, international security guarantees and no restrictions on its military strength.