The Russian ambassador to Tehran has described as positive the reactions of Iranians to President Vladimir Putin’s latest visit to the country, stressing that the results of the trip have been beyond expectations and heralded the two sides’ mutual intent to expand bilateral cooperation.
"The reaction was positive, even elated. Our leader received a very warm welcome. The visit is all over the headlines in the Iranian press, there are numerous photos of the meeting between our leader and the … Leader of Iran [Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei], as well as his meeting with President Ebrahim Raeisi," Levan Dzhagaryan said on Russian TV on Thursday.
"The results [of the visit] are the most promising, and, possibly, they have even exceeded our earlier expectations," he added.
The Russian diplomat underlined that the visit confirmed the mutual intent of Tehran and Moscow for further development of a comprehensive and mutually beneficial cooperation in many areas.
"The goal now is to implement the agreements achieved during this, I dare say, historic visit," Dzhagaryan said.
Putin held several rounds of bilateral talks during his visit to Iran on Tuesday, and then took part in the tripartite Astana Format summit, chaired by the Iranian president and attended by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Back in January, Raeisi visited Russia, during which Tehran and Moscow reached agreements to expand their cooperation in various fields, including in the industry, defense, and aerospace sectors.
The Iranian chief executive said back then that the two sides discussed steps to challenge the dominance of the US dollar and continue trade in their national currencies, adding that, in the field of transportation, Tehran and Moscow decided to advance the North-South corridor which will facilitate transportation and greatly reduce transportation time.
During Raeisi's visit, Russia and Iran also discussed the unification of their banking systems, particularly in order to come up with an alternative to SWIFT, the global provider of secure financial messaging services, which is subject to US and European sanctions.