Key provisions of Russia-Iran strategic cooperation treaty

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian arrived in Moscow on Friday for talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin and the signing of a strategic partnership treaty involving closer defence cooperation that is likely to worry the West.

Pezeshkian, on his first Kremlin visit since winning the presidency last July, will hold talks with Putin focusing on bilateral ties and international issues before signing the treaty.

Ahead of the talks, the Kremlin hailed its ever closer ties with Tehran.

"Iran is an important partner for us with which we are developing multifaceted co-operation," Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

Moscow has cultivated closer ties with Iran and other countries hostile towards the U.S., such as North Korea, since the start of the Ukraine war, and already has strategic pacts with Pyongyang and close ally Belarus, as well as a strategic partnership agreement with China.

The 20-year Russia-Iran agreement is not expected to include a mutual defence clause of the kind sealed with Minsk and Pyongyang, but is still likely to concern the West which sees both countries as malign influences on the world stage.

Moscow and Tehran say their increasingly close ties are not directed against other countries.

Russia has made extensive use of Iranian drones during the war in Ukraine and the United States accused Tehran in September of delivering close-range ballistic missiles to Russia for use against Ukraine. Tehran denies supplying drones or missiles.

The Kremlin has declined to confirm it has received Iranian missiles, but has acknowledged that its cooperation with Iran includes "the most sensitive areas".

Pezeshkian visit to Moscow also comes at a time when Iranian influence across the Middle East is in retreat after Islamist rebels seized power in Syria, expelling ally Bashar al-Assad, and after Iran-backed Hamas has been pounded by Israel in Gaza.

Israel has also inflicted serious damage on the Tehran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Russia too finds itself on the backfoot in Syria where it maintains two major military facilities crucial to its geopolitical and military influence in the Middle East and Africa but whose fate under Syria's new rulers is now uncertain.

Putin met Pezeshkian on the sidelines of a BRICS summit in the Russian city of Kazan in October and at a cultural forum in Turkmenistan the same month.

Pezeshkian, who is holding talks with Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin before meeting Putin, is accompanied to Moscow by his oil minister, and Western sanctions on the sector and the subject of how to circumvent them are likely to be discussed.

Energy, security

Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Iranian counterpart Masoud Pezeshkian on Friday signed a 20-year strategic partnership treaty that includes closer defence cooperation, something likely to worry the West.

Here are the key points:

GENERAL

The two sides will work to deepen their relationship in all areas of mutual interest. They will strengthen cooperation in security and defence, and closely coordinate their activities at regional and global levels, aiming for a long-term, comprehensive and strategic partnership.

SECURITY

The two countries will work together against common military threats, take part in joint exercises and develop their "military-technical cooperation". If one is attacked, the other shall not assist the aggressor and will seek to resolve differences based on the U.N. Charter and international law.

Neither side will allow its territory to be used to support separatist movements or actions threatening the other's stability and territorial integrity. To tackle common threats, their intelligence and security services will share information and experience and work more closely together.

ENERGY

Russia and Iran will promote cooperation between their energy companies and encourage investments in projects for developing oil and gas fields.

NUCLEAR

Both parties will work on long-term joint projects on the peaceful use of nuclear energy including the construction of nuclear power stations.

TRADE

The two sides will work together to create a modern payment system that is independent of third countries, with settlement in national currencies. They will strengthen direct interbank cooperation and promote their national financial products.