Iran's president, Masoud Pezeshkian, will travel to Moscow on Tuesday to meet Russia's president, Vladimir Putin, face to face — the latest in a run of visits that keeps bringing Tehran's leadership to the Kremlin while Iran's war with the United States and Israel grinds on.
The visit was announced by Iran's ambassador to Russia, Kazem Jalali. Pezeshkian arrives in Moscow on Tuesday, October 27, to attend the eighth summit of the Gas Exporting Countries Forum, the grouping of the world's gas-exporting nations, and he will hold bilateral talks with Putin on the sidelines of the gathering. Jalali said the meeting will cover economic cooperation, energy security and geopolitical issues, and that preparations for the visit are being finalised. No documents are scheduled to be signed by the two presidents during the visit.
The Moscow meeting follows a week of visible movement between the two capitals. Russia's foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, visited Iran this week — his first trip to the country since the Middle East war began — and Iran's foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, said cooperation between Russia and Iran is stronger than ever. Araghchi signalled on Friday that the two presidents would talk next week. The two leaders have held several conversations in recent months.
On the table in Moscow, Jalali said, are the International North-South Transport Corridor, energy security, food security and the expansion of bilateral trade. And above the trade sits the war: in early October, Putin said Russia was ready to mediate efforts to end the conflict that began in February with attacks by the United States and Israel. Negotiations between Washington and Tehran have remained stalled for months, while the United States and Israel have threatened to resume their strikes on Iran.
Russia and Iran are two of the most sanctioned nations on earth, and their ties have grown steadily closer in recent years, deepening further after Russia launched its full-scale military offensive against Ukraine in February 2022. For Tehran, isolated and at war, Moscow is the strongest partner it has. For Putin, every Iranian visit to Moscow adds to his leverage: the Kremlin is positioning itself as the capital no settlement of the war can bypass.
Tuesday's meeting is the next step in that pattern — the gas summit brings Pezeshkian to Moscow, and Putin gets another audience with a partner who increasingly needs him.
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