TEHRAN – Iranian Ambassador to Moscow Kazem Jalali has announced that Russia has appointed a new envoy to Iran.

The new Russian ambassador, Alexey Dedov, will replace Levan Dzhagaryan, one of the longest-serving Russian diplomats in Iran.
 
Jalali broke the news on Twitter after meeting the newly-appointed Russian ambassador. 

“Today I had a meeting with Alexey Dedov. He will soon start working as Russia's new ambassador to Iran. Both sides emphasized that the relations between Iran and Russia are in one of the best historical periods,” Jalali said.

In early September, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov discussed in a telephone conversation with his Iranian counterpart Hossein Amir Abdollahian the schedule of future high-level and summit meetings, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement carried by TASS. 

"The ministers synchronized their schedules of future high-level and summit meeting," the ministry said.

The Russian Foreign Ministry added that at the meeting the two top diplomats touched upon “pressing issues of bilateral cooperation in follow-up to the agreements of the talks between the foreign ministers in Moscow on August 31, 2022.”

“The ministers agreed to maintain close coordination on international and regional issues,” the Russian Foreign Ministry stressed.

In late August, the Iranian foreign minister paid a visit to Moscow, where he met Lavrov. In this visit, the Iranian foreign minister was tasked to mediate between Russia and Ukraine. 

Before heading to Russia, Amir Abdollahian said that a Western country had asked Iran to offer its good offices in order to put an end to the war in Ukraine. 

Fars News said that the recent phone call between Amir Abdollahian and Lavrov might have been used to relay Russia’s response to the Iranian mediation.

During a press conference held with his Russian counterpart during his visit to Moscow, Amir Abdollahian said that he had discussed with him the message sent by European leaders to the President of the Islamic Republic to help with achieving a ceasefire and peace in Ukraine.

In the meeting with Lavrov, the Iranian foreign minister said that relations between Iran and Russia follow the right path and underlined the necessity of continuation and strengthening of common efforts to further expand relations in different sphere, according to the Iranian foreign ministry.

In this regard, he described as significant the necessity of common work to realize and implement the agreements reached between the presidents of Iran and Russia in Ashgabat and Tehran.

Amir Abdollahian also welcomed the growing trend of trade cooperation between the two countries, noting that easing this portion of bilateral cooperation and removing obstacles and problems will pave the way for stronger trade between the two countries.

The foreign minister also underlined the need to strengthen cooperation between the two countries in the field of railroads and called for speeding up the implementation process of railroad and transportation projects.

Accordingly, he underlined that enhancing cooperation in the North-South transit corridor is a key priority of Iran and that the Rasht-Astara railway link project will become operational as part of the joint agreements.

Amir Abdollahian also welcomed the proposal by the Russian side for joint work on fisheries and cultural, sports and tourism cooperation and described these topics as among the good potential for cooperation between the two states.

On regional and international issues, those that were raised by Amir Abdollahian during the meeting were the situation in Ukraine, Afghanistan, Syria, Yemen, Iraq, Palestine and also South Caucasus.

During the meeting, Lavrov also underlined the significance of the agreements reached between the presidents of the two countries in Ashgabat and stressed the necessity of joint efforts to implement them.

Lavrov also welcomed the all-out enhancement of bilateral ties, including trade ones, expressing hope that as a result of the increased exchange of economic and trade delegations between the two countries and the agreements reached, the two sides will further grow cooperation in all areas of mutual interest.

Lavrov, too, touched on such issues as energy, finance and banking, transit and transportation, railways, oil and natural gas, agriculture, fisheries, tourism and sport and described them as major areas of cooperation between the two countries.

He added that Russia is ready to strengthen bilateral cooperation in these areas in line with common interests of both countries.

Lavrov also talked about the developments in South Caucasus and reaffirmed the comments by the Iranian foreign minister on the subject, stressing Russia’s commitment to oppose any geopolitical change in the region and also change in international borders.