TEHRAN – Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi on Thursday told his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin that the cooperation among countries sanctioned by the United States will make them “stronger”.

“The relationship between countries that are sanctioned by the U.S., such as Iran, Russia or other countries, can overcome many problems and issues and make them stronger,” Raisi said in a meeting with Putin in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, where the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit was held.

“The Americans think whichever country they impose sanctions on, it will be stopped, their perception is a wrong one,” Raisi remarked, according to citizen.co.za.

The president said Tehran is “seriously determined to develop bilateral strategic relations” with Russia in the fields of politics, economy, trade, and aerospace.

It was the second meeting between Raisi and Putin in two months, after the Russian president’s visit to Tehran on July 19.

Putin also hailed growing ties with the Islamic republic, saying “on the bilateral level, cooperation is developing positively”

He added that work on a major new Russia-Iran treaty on strategic ties was nearly completed and that Moscow would be sending a Russian business delegation to Iran next week to develop commercial ties.

“We are doing everything to make Iran a full member of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization,” Putin added, in reference to Tehran’s application for full membership in the group, which brings together China, Russia, India, Pakistan and four former Soviet Central Asian countries.

The Iranian president said his country’s membership in the SCO and its relationship with member states “can greatly help on the path of economic development for Iran and the development of the region.”