Tehran has confirmed that Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian will attend an upcoming summit of the BRICS group of nations, which Iran officially joined earlier this year.
The summit will be held from Oct. 22 to Oct. 24 in Kazan, the capital of Russia’s Tatarstan region.
Pezeshkian, who took office last month after winning July elections, will meet Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin at the summit, according to Jalali.
A 10-nation economic bloc, BRICS was founded in 2006 to counter perceived economic dominance by the West. Its original members were Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa (BRICS).
Earlier this year, Iran—along with Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Ethiopia, and the United Arab Emirates—joined the economic bloc.
Jalali made the announcement on the sidelines of a four-day BRICS media forum now underway in Moscow.
According to TASS, which is hosting the forum, representatives of media outlets from 45 counties are attending the event.
Russia, which currently holds the BRICS rotating presidency, intends to further expand the bloc as a means of creating what it calls a “multipolar” world order.
Pezeshkian’s upcoming visit to Kazan follows mounting tensions with the West over growing military cooperation between Tehran and Moscow.
Last week, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that Iran was providing ballistic missiles to Russia for possible use in the latter’s invasion of Ukraine.
Speaking alongside British Foreign Secretary David Lammy, Blinken said Russia’s deepening military ties with Iran “threaten European security and demonstrate how Iran’s destabilizing influence reaches far beyond the Middle East.”
On Sept. 9, the United States, the UK, France, and Germany collectively imposed fresh sanctions on a raft of Iranian assets, including Iran Air, Tehran’s national carrier.
The following day, Abbas Araghchi, Iran’s foreign minister, denied that his country was supplying Russia with ballistic missiles for use in Ukraine.
He also said Western sanctions were “not a solution, but part of the problem.”
Western capitals, including Washington, have previously alleged that Iran has provided Russia with missiles and drones, which has been denied by both Tehran and Moscow.
On Sept. 14, Sergei Ryabkov, Russia’s deputy foreign minister, said the United States is seeking to “drive a wedge” between Moscow and Tehran by making false allegations about arms deliveries.
He also said that the scope of Russia–Iran cooperation did not include anything that violates international law or that “negatively affects anyone’s security or any regional balances.”
In recent years, Russia and Iran—both the targets of Western sanctions—have drawn increasingly close, especially in terms of security.
The two countries cooperate closely in Syria, where they both maintain forces to support Damascus against what they regard as “foreign-backed terrorist groups.”
Last year, Iran became a full member of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, a formidable bloc of Eurasian states established in 2001 by Moscow and Beijing.
Early last month, Pezeshkian called for stepped-up relations between Iran and Russia, describing the latter as a “strategic partner” of Iran.
He made the remarks at a meeting with Sergei Shoigu, head of Russia’s Security Council and a former defense minister, who visited Tehran on Aug. 5.
Russia and Iran have also reportedly drawn up—but have not yet signed—a strategic partnership agreement, the precise terms of which remain unknown.
In previous remarks, Jalali, Tehran’s envoy to Moscow, said the strategic partnership deal would likely be signed sometime later this year.
