Tabnak – One week ahead of the planned summit between the presidents of Russia and the United States, Israeli pressures to convince Moscow to cut its partnership with Tehran have increased. Meanwhile, a top aide to Iran’s Supreme Leader is in Russia to deliver an important message to the Russians on bilateral ties.
In this vein, Ali Akbar Velayati, an international adviser to the Leader of the Islamic Revolution who is in Russia for an official visit, shrugged off the concurrent trip to Russia by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, saying, “Nobody cares about his words.”
Speaking to reporters upon his arrival in Moscow on Wednesday, Velayati pointed to Netanyahu’s upcoming visit to the Russian Federation and said, “He is an itinerant person who travels to somewhere in the world every day.”
“He makes baseless and illogical remarks and nobody cares about his words,” the Iranian official said. “Therefore, his presence or absence in Russia has no effect on our strategic mission,” he added.
Velayati is in Moscow in a bid to submit messages from Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei and also President Hassan Rouhani to Russian President Vladimir Putin, according to Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bahram Qassemi.
Qassemi said the letters are aimed at “emphasizing the importance of expanded relations between Iran and Russia”. Velayati will likely hold a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday. Qassemi told the IRIB that Velayati will also pay a visit to China to convey messages from Ayatollah Khamenei and Rouhani to Chinese leaders.
He said that after the US withdrawal from Iran nuclear deal, also known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), which was a strategic mistake made by the US president, the Islamic Republic of Iran decided to send special envoys to convey the messages of top Iranian leaders to other countries.
“In these messages, our country’s views and stances regarding the US’ selfish and illegal behavior are explained to other countries,” he said.
US President Donald Trump announced on May 8 that Washington was walking away from the nuclear agreement signed between Iran and the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council -- the United States, Britain, France, China and Russia -- plus Germany in 2015.
Trump also said he plans to reinstate US nuclear sanctions on Iran and impose "the highest level" of economic bans on the Islamic Republic. Under the JCPOA, Iran undertook to put limits on its nuclear program in exchange for the removal of nuclear-related sanctions imposed against Tehran.
