Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi said that the Iranian and Russian foreign ministries exchanged drafts of a comprehensive long-term cooperation agreement between the two countries, stressing what he called "the strategic nature of Iran's cooperation with Russia."
This came during a press conference held by Raisi in the Iranian capital, Tehran, on Monday, coinciding with the one-year anniversary of his assumption of power in the country.
Raisi said, "There is a comprehensive cooperation program between Russia and Iran, the initial text of which was exchanged between the two countries' foreign ministries... I think we will soon move to the final stage in this direction," according to what the German news agency quoted the Russian TASS news agency as saying.
On November 16 last year, Raisi said during a telephone conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin that the Iranian side is ready to conclude a long-term agreement on comprehensive cooperation with Russia.
The term of the document to be concluded is supposed to be 20 years, according to TASS.
No meeting with Biden
On the other hand, the Iranian president said that he does not intend to meet with his American counterpart Joe Biden on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly, scheduled for next month in New York.
Raisi added: "There is no point in a meeting between me and him (...) There are no plans for such a meeting, and there will be no" such plans.
Tehran had described the course of negotiations on the nuclear file as positive, and confirmed at the same time that it would not give up its red lines, while Washington confirmed that an agreement was close to reaching an agreement, and talked about Tehran's willingness to compromise on major issues.
But Raisi said that it is not possible to reach an agreement on the nuclear file before resolving the outstanding issues between Tehran and the International Atomic Energy Agency, stressing that his country stressed during the nuclear talks the necessity of lifting sanctions in a practical way and resolving the remaining issues substantively.
The Iranian president stressed that the parties that violated the nuclear agreement must return to it and lift the sanctions, in reference to the United States.
"We got the nuclear technology, and no one can take this right away from us at all," he added, adding that his country does not seek to possess a nuclear weapon, "and this type of weapon has no place in our defense strategy."
The Iranian president's statements come as the international community awaits Tehran's response to the US proposal for the two sides to fully return to the 2015 nuclear agreement.
For months, diplomats from Iran, the United States and 5 other countries have been negotiating in the Austrian capital, Vienna, a deal to restore restrictions on Tehran's nuclear program, in exchange for the lifting of economic sanctions re-imposed by former US President Donald Trump after his country withdrew from the agreement in May 2018.