A series of meetings this week serve as reminders that the nation of Iran does not stand alone in defending its sovereignty. Two very high-level Russian-Iranian meetings were held this week, while a trilateral Russia-China-Iran meeting of Foreign Ministry Director Generals has been scheduled for July 22 in Tehran to discuss the threat of draconian economic sanctions being reimposed on Iran by the so-called “E3” nations of the U.K., Germany and France, on the pretext of Iran’s nuclear program. The Tuesday, July 22 meeting, called in advance of Iran’s meeting on July 25 with E3 representatives, was announced today by Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei.
The big news from July 20 was the announcement that Russian President Vladimir Putin had just met in Moscow with Iran’s Ali Larijani, senior advisor to the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic. The short readout from the Presidential website released after the meeting read: “At the instruction of the Supreme Leader of Iran Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Ali Larijani presented the views of the Islamic Republic on the current escalation in the Middle East and, notably, surrounding Iran’s nuclear program. The Russian side expressed support for stabilizing the situation in the region and resolving any issues pertaining to Iran’s nuclear program via political means.”
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei concurred, when he reported on July 21 that “Mr. Larijani visited Russia as the special envoy of the President, delivering a message and Iran’s broader perspective on regional developments, international issues, and bilateral relations.” Baghaei called the meeting “very constructive,” adding that “it is common for countries to send envoys based on unfolding developments and the importance of certain issues,” Iranian news agency WANA reported.
