Russia, Iran, Turkey should maintain Astana-format cooperation - Iran’s Foreign Ministry

MOSCOW, January 10. /TASS/. The task of Russia, Iran and Turkey is to preserve the trend towards cooperation in the Astana format, which has shown its high efficiency, Senior Aide to the Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Jaberi Ansari said at a meeting with Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Vershinin on Thursday. "Cooperation between Iran, Russia and Turkey in the Astana format has shown its usefulness over the past few years," he said. "At this stage, our task is, in addition to close cooperation between Iran and Russia, to maintain the same trend in our trilateral cooperation as part of the Astana format." "During these consultations, we will discuss those changes, which are taking place in Syria and Yemen and various regional and international issues," Ansari noted. "Although this is a bilateral meeting, it can also be viewed as common and joint measures that we take, together with our Turkish partners, within the framework of the Astana format." The Iranian diplomat was also certain that the consultations in Moscow would be useful and fruitful and would contribute to the effective development of processes in the Middle East. "We see that relations between Iran and Russia in various areas are currently developing and expanding, and Syria is just one of the areas that Moscow and Tehran cooperate in," he added. "We have achieved very important results in the fight against terrorism and in ensuring peace and security in that country." Taking part in the meeting between Ansari and Vershinin was Russian Presidential Envoy for Syria Alexander Lavrentyev, who leads Russia’s delegation at high-level meetings on Syria. Read more