Closer Iran-Russia security coop. needed against new terror threats

Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani warned that terrorism has not been fully uprooted yet, calling for closer security cooperation between Iran and Russia to ward off the new wave of terrorist threats.

Iranian Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani made the remarks in a meeting with State Duma deputy from the party 'A Just Russia' Mikhail Emelyanov on Wednesday evening on the sidelines of the 10th meeting of Asian Parliamentary Assembly (APA) in Istanbul.

During the meeting, Larijani stressed Iran’s resolve for expanding trade ties with Russia, saying “we have presented a number of economic proposals to the State Duma and Russian Federation and all sectors in Iran are keenly interested in developing cooperation with Russia.”

Mikhail Emelyanov, for his part, attached great significance to his meeting with Larijani which coincided with the Iran-Russia-Turkey tripartite summit in the Russian city of Sochi aimed at holding talks on the Syrian settlement.  

“We are planning to completely eradicate terrorism in Syria with joint cooperation with Iran,” he stressed.

The Russian parliamentary official went on to add, "we are fully aware that those who are trying to destabilize the region and undermine Iran and Russia’s interests are none other than US leaders.”

Emelyanov voiced his country’s resolve to expand trade and economic cooperation with Iran, adding “despite the obstacles ahead, we have made good progress in nuclear cooperation and are determined to continue this trend which requires closer parliamentary ties.”

The 10th meeting of the Asian Parliamentary Assembly is currently underway in Istanbul from Nov. 21-24, 2017 under the motto “Sustaining Peace and Development in Asia”. Established in 2007 as continuation of an organization born in 1999, the APA currently comprises of 41 Member Parliaments and 17 observers.