Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov held talks in Tehran on Monday (October 19) with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and was received by President Masoud Pezeshkian — his first visit to Iran since the United States and Israel launched strikes on Iran at the end of February, Al Jazeera reported.

At a joint press conference with Araghchi, Lavrov said Russia had no intention of abandoning its agreements with Iran despite the difficult situation and US threats of secondary sanctions on countries still dealing with Tehran. “Despite the challenging situation, Russia has no intention to abandon the implementation of economic and investment agreements with Iran,” he said, in remarks reported by TASS and carried by multiple outlets.

Lavrov said Russian specialists who were withdrawn from Iran's Bushehr nuclear power plant during the war are gradually returning — a concrete step in the two countries' 20-year strategic partnership, which Lavrov said Moscow remains committed to. He also said Russia was ready to help search for mutually acceptable solutions to end the crisis.

Araghchi said Iran and Russia share the view that regional problems have no military solution and must be pursued through diplomacy. Writing on X after the talks, he said: “Never in our history have Iran and Russia worked as closely as now,” Reuters reported.

Lavrov pointed to growing trade as proof the partnership is working in practice: bilateral trade rose 21% in 2025 and by more than 10% in the first eight months of 2026, he said, helped by the free-trade agreement between Iran and the Eurasian Economic Union that took effect in May 2025.

A partnership, not a defence pact

The visit came after US President Donald Trump said Russia was doing little to help Iran. The Russia-Iran strategic partnership treaty, signed in January 2025, deepens political, economic and energy cooperation but — unlike Russia's treaty with North Korea — contains no mutual-defence clause, and Lavrov announced no new military assistance in Tehran.