Joint Iran-Russia military commission to be held in Tehran by Jan 2022

Iran is expected to convene a joint military commission with Russia within three months in Tehran, Iranian Chief of General Staff (CGS) Major General Mohammad Bagheri said on Monday. The Iranian and Russian counterparts are expected to discuss defence and security cooperation during high-level military talks, the state-run Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) reported, citing Bagheri.

"A joint Iranian-Russian military Commission will meet in Tehran in 3 months. The commission will discuss cooperation between the two countries in defence, security, military training (of troops) and other issues," IRNA quoted Gen Bagheri as saying.

Currently, General Bagheri is in Moscow as a part of a visit to enhance defence ties. On Monday, the top-ranking Iranian defence official met his Russian counterpart, General Valery Gerasimov. Both the diplomats laid the groundwork for the joint military meeting expected to be held in three months.

According to IRNA, the two generals discussed the military contract between Tehran and Russia that seeks Iran to procure a number of training jets and combat helicopters after the US relaxes sanctions, Bagheri said. Additionally, they also shed light on outlining areas of cooperation in the field of military training besides exchanging views on the Afghan crisis.

Tehran hopes to host Russian President Vladimir Putin

It is to be noted that Russia is a "strategic partner" of Iran. For several years the former has reportedly contributed to consolidating Iran's nuclear power plant in Bushehr. Owing to the friendliness, Iranian Foreign Minister (FM) Hossein Amirabdollahian, on October 6, expressed Tehran's hope to engage in a meeting between the presidents of both countries.

"We hope that in the near future (the Russian) President can hold a meeting in one of our capitals," Russian News Agency TASS reported quoting Amirabdollahian. "In our foreign policy, Moscow is a priority and we consider Russia as a strategic partner," he had said.

Iranian CGS meets Pak General for high-level talks

Notably, Gen. Bagheri was a part of a "high-level delegation" meet in Pakistan just ahead of his current meeting in Moscow. As per a series of Twitter posts by the Pakistan Armed Forces (PAF), the officials exchanged views on a wide range of issues including Afghanistan, and regional security and border management, particularly fencing on the Pak-Iran border.

Both the countries also agreed on further enhancing defence cooperation and to work together for regional peace and unified response to terrorism which is a common enemy, PAF mentioned. Gen. Bagheri also "expressed his desire" for further strengthening military to military ties particularly in counter-terrorism and training, PAF added.

(Image: AP)