PHOTO: Russian legislator Valentina Matviyenko with President Rouhani on Monday

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Iran’s regime has played up its developing alliance with Russia, hosting the chair of Moscow’s Federation Council, Valentina Matviyenko.

Amid the Russian-Iranian campaign to prop up Syria’s Assad regime, President Rouhani said on Monday:

There is strategic cooperation between Iran and Russia to fight terrorism and such cooperation will continue until the eradication of terrorism in the region.

Terrorist groups are dangerous for the entire region and the world and we must continue with the fight against these groups along with each other until the eradication of terrorism and the establishment of stability and the will of the Syrian people over their country’s affairs.

Rouhani also urged Russia to support Iran in the implementation of the July 2015 nuclear agreement, urging the removal of remaining US sanctions.

Russia is one of the 5+1 Powers who negotiated the deal with Tehran after more than a decade of tension over Iran’s nuclear program.

Matviyenko gave an encouraging response in the “very constructive and lengthy” discussion, summarizing Rouhani’s hope that “Russia will continue to exert influence on the Western countries to have them implement their liabilities under this agreement in order to unfreeze other issues and lift remaining restrictions against Iran to give it a possibility to develop”.

The legislator, who also saw Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, added, “We are leaving Iran being absolutely confident in the sincerity of the Iranian side’s plans to expand our cooperation, first of all, in the spheres of economy, investments, energy, and in the humanities.”

Supreme Leader’s “Wait and See” on Trump

The Supreme Leader’s office has signalled a cautious “wait-and-see” reception of Donald Trump’s surprise victory in the US Presidential election.

Ayatollah Khamenei’s senior military advisor, Maj. Gen. Yahya Rahim Safavi, told Iranian media to “let some time pass” before analyzing the effects of Trump’s victory. He warned that candidates in Presidential races “speak one way to get votes during their candidacy” before changing their positions after election day.

But Safavi expressed his “hope that America’s new President makes a substantive pivot on regional issues, especially Syria, Iraq, and in relation to Iran”.

The regime has put out mixed signals since Trump’s triumph last Tuesday. The Secretary of the National Security Council, Ali Shamkhani, looked toward a review of US “policies based on disregard for the policies of the majority”. However, the Iranian military put out a tougher line, saying that Trump “talks off the head” and that the US cannot challenge Iranian superiority in the Persian Gulf and the region.

And Iran’s head of judiciary, Sadegh Larijani, has both celebrated the decline of the US and warned of consequences:

The remarks of both candidates in their presidential campaign revealed much about their moral collapse; both candidates exposed their corruptions and violations of moral principles….

The vote for Trump, who criticized the establishment as inefficient and corrupt, was the rejection of the Establishment and the policy thereof. If Mr. Trump lives to his promises, the world as well as the US will face a real crisis.

Meanwhile, President Rouhani emphasized his hope that implementation of the July 2015 nuclear deal would not be affected by the victory of Trump, who has expressed his hostility to the deal and who may chooose a Secretary of State from among supporters of the Mujahedin-e Khalq (MKO) — considered “terrorist” by Tehran — like Newt Gingrich and Rudy Giuliani.

First Vice President Eshaq Jahangiri repeated on Tuesday, “No side of the nuclear agreement can violate it.”

See Iran Daily, Nov 12: Regime Wonders if Trump Will Scrap Nuclear Deal
Iran Daily, Nov 11: Military’s Tough-Talk Challenge to Trump — “He Talks Off the Top of His Head”