Iran says will not forget friends of hard times

Moscow, Dec 24, IRNA – Foreign Ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi said on Tuesday that Iran will never forget the friends of hard times. Mousavi said that Iran and Russia have record of friendship and they had ups and downs in their relations in different periods, especially in the past two centuries, the two countries have developed special relations, especially after the 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran. Mousavi said that Iran will not forget the friends of hard times. "The ties have been built on proper grounds and we hope that they will serve the interests of both the people of Iran and Russia." He said that Tehran-Moscow relations had enemies and saboteurs, but, as two neighboring countries, "we have to stand by each other and we do." In the past several years, the leaders of the two countries have decided to pursue the historic ties to give them comprehensibility that led to bilateral, regional and international cooperation. Iran and Russia have good cooperation and alignment in international community, he said, adding that on Syria, Iran and the Russian Federation are putting an end to the tensions and restoring stability and security to the country and the entire region as well. "Russia has stood by Iran; despite the US and the West's pressures on Iran and despite the "Economic Terrorism" imposed on Iran, the Russian friends stood by Iran as much as possible. That's why Iran has placed Russia and China, on one side in terms of abiding by the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, and the other signatories of the nuclear deal, including the UK and Germany, on the other. Follow us on Twitter @IrnaEnglish