MOSCOW, July 18 (RIA Novosti) — The presidents of Russia and Iran have discussed the ongoing negotiations on Iran’s nuclear program and other international issues in a phone conversation on Friday, the Kremlin said in a statement.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani "have exchanged opinions about the negotiations on Iran’s nuclear program," the Kremlin press service said without giving further details.
This week, the P5+1 group — US, UK, France, Germany, Russia and China — and Iran hope to agree on guarantees of the exclusively peaceful character of Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for a step-by-step lifting of international sanctions against the Islamic Republic.
The final sixth round of negotiations between the six world powers and Iran has been underway in Vienna since July 2, with the participants initially intending to come to an agreement by July 20. The deadline, however, may be extended, Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said Thursday.
Putin met with Rouhani in China in late May. The Russian president said Russia and Iran were not only neighbors, but also long-standing reliable partners, and expressed hope for Russian-Iranian cooperation to continue despite international turbulence around Iran. Rouhani, in his turn, said relations between the two countries in recent years have become more warm and trusting.
In Friday’s phone conversation, Putin and Rouhani also discussed the situation in Iraq and the escalation of Israeli-Palestinian tensions in the Gaza strip.
«Both sides underlined the need to end the military confrontation as soon as possible and to resume direct Israeli-Palestinian negotiations," the statement reads.
The Israeli military announced Thursday the beginning of a ground offensive in the Gaza strip aimed at destroying tunnels dug by Hamas rebels under the joint border. The operation followed an intense ten-day fighting that has claimed the lives of hundreds of people, mostly on the Palestinian side.
