TEHRAN- China’s Defense Minister Li Shangfu on Thursday reaffirmed Beijing’s support for Iran’s national sovereignty.

Minister Li made the remarks in a meeting with Brigadier General Aziz Nasirzadeh, the deputy chief of staff of the Iranian armed forces, on the sidelines of Moscow’s international military-security forum.

China’s defense minister also declared that his nation is prepared to expand military ties with the Iranian side in in variety of ways.

On Monday, on the first day of his trip to Moscow, Brigadier General Nasirzadeh attended the Russian international technical-military exhibition known as Army Forum 2023 in the Patriot Park in the west of Moscow and met with some participating officials.

He accompanied Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu in visiting Iran’s booth in the exhibition.

It also highlighted the growth of bilateral cooperation in the military and defense sector during a meeting with the deputy chief of general staff of the armed forces of Iran and the deputy minister of defense of Russia.

During the international security forum in Moscow, General Nasirzadeh also held a separate meeting with Kazakhstan’s defense minister. Additionally, he held separate meetings with the deputy defense ministers of Russia, Venezuela, Uzbekistan, and Venezuela.

During these sessions, the parties highlighted the importance of the overall growth of bilateral military cooperation while sharing opinions on global and regional events.

Iran and Saudi Arabia concur to exchange military attachés

Also on Wednesday, General Nasirzadeh and Saudi Assistant Defense Minister Talal bin Abdullah al-Otaibi held a meeting on the sidelines of the Moscow event.

They decided to exchange military attachés “as soon as possible” at the meeting.

It was the first time Iranian and Saudi Arabian military representatives had spoken since diplomatic ties between the nations were restored thanks to a détente mediated by China.

The agreement, according to General Nasirzadeh and al-Otaibi, is in keeping with the interests of Riyadh, Tehran, and other Muslim-majority nations as well as other countries in the region.

The Saudi and Iranian officials emphasized the importance of the militaries’ help for the effective implementation of the détente.

Accordingly, they called it important for the countries to keep up their relevant negotiations and endeavor towards “attainment of the proper roadmap in the field.”

Addressing the Moscow forum on Tuesday, General Nasirzadeh noted that the destructive war in Ukraine is the result of U.S.-led unreasonable and exorbitant demands.

“We believe that were it not for the dominance and excessive demands of the West spearheaded by the United States, this ruinous war would not have happened in Ukraine,” Nasirzadeh, who led Iran’s high-ranking military delegation, pointed out.

He also stressed that “those who triggered this war and those involved in fueling its flames should reconsider their approach and know that endangering the safety of others can prompt a reaction that may be difficult to predict.”

Given the ramifications of the ongoing conflict in the former Soviet republic, Nasirzadeh said, “What we are witnessing in Ukraine today, in which dozens of people fall victim to the war every day, with long-term effects and consequences for the region and the world, is a clear example of the West’s desire for domination and excessive demands to maintain and continue its hegemony, and this attempt has so far resulted in many disasters.”

The senior commander also pointed to Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territories and its heavy crackdown on its oppressed people for nearly eight decades.

General Nasirzadeh went on to say that Tehran supports the establishment of a global order based on human dignity and justice, emphasizing the necessity of international cooperation to defeat Western unilateralism.

During his speech, Nasirzadeh also criticized the U.S. for its purported support for human rights by alluding to the 2020 U.S. assassination of Iran’s top counterterrorism hero Lieutenant General Qassem Soleimani in Iraq.

He observed that General Soleimani, who led the war against Daesh — the deadliest terrorist group in human history — and fought them and liberated the people of the region and the globe from the horror of this outfit, was ruthlessly assassinated by the Americans.