Iran’s Parliament (Majles) Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf (Qalibaf) will travel to Moscow on Sunday, February 7 for a three-day visit, a member of parliament told ISNA website on Saturday [February 6].
Mojtaba Tavangar, a member of the Majles Economic Committee, said Ghalibaf would meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Chairman of the State Duma Volodin Viaсheslav Viktoroviсh, and with the “head” of Russia’s national security council(link is external), presumably its secretary Nikolai Patrushev.
Tavangar said Ghalibaf’s main agenda would be expanding economic ties, including the possible sale of Iranian oil and trade with regional countries close to Russia. Iran-Russia trade is relatively low, down from around $3.5 billion in 2010 to $1.6 billion in 2019 due to firstly internationally-agreed sanction and later unilateral US measures against Iran – although official figures may disguise efforts to elude Washington’s monitoring.
Tavangar said Ghalibaf would carry a message to Putin, leading to speculation that Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei is sending a message to the Russian leader. Russia in December joined other signatories calling for the agreement’s revival.
Ghalibaf is a potential conservative candidate for June’s presidential elections, and his recent provincial trips in Iran perhaps kickstarted his unofficial campaign. Meeting senior figures in Moscow will boost his domestic profile.
The Majles speaker is a staunch critic of President Hassan Rouhani’s economic record, arguing that mismanagement has weakened the economy just as much as crippling US sanctions imposed by President Donald Trump, who abandoned the nuclear agreement in 2018 and threatened third parties buying Iranian oil or dealing with its banks.
Source : Iran T.V
