Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif will visit Russia next week for a conference on Caspian energy, while Iranian President Hassan Rouhani is scheduled to visit in September, according to the Tower.
The announcement is raising concerns in the international community as Russia continues its campaign in Eastern Ukraine and Iran negotiates its nuclear program.
The Tower reports:
Top Russian diplomats have threatened to "raise the stakes" of the crisis by shifting their stance on Iran talks, and Moscow has very publicly declared that it is in any case forging ahead with a $20 billion sanctions-busting scheme that would see Iran barter oil for goods. The Obama administration has thus far brushed off concerns that Russian calculations may see their diplomats undermining the West’s approach to Iran, insisting instead that the Kremlin would "compartmentalize" various processes.
At stake is the degree to which Washington and its European allies have sufficient leverage to convince the Iranians to verifiably put their atomic program beyond use for weaponization. Quantitative economic indicators, summed up this week in a new IMF report, indicate that Iran’s economy has stabilized and is primed for growth "even if sanctions relief under [the interim Joint Plan of Action (JPA)] deal proves short-lived."