TEHRAN: A Russian naval fleet berthed at Iran’s northern port city of Anzali consisting of two missile-launching warships.
The Russian warships, namely the Dagestan and the Grad Sviyazhsk, made port call in Anzali, on the south coast of the Caspian Sea, on Monday morning. The fleet is planned to stay at the port until Wednesday.
Meanwhile, high-ranking commanders representing Iran and the Russian fleet held a meeting on Dagestan warship.
Commander of the Russian fleet, Valeri Sprinov, said his country’s navy seeks to expand ties with Iran and raised the idea of a joint naval drill between Iranian and Russian forces in the future.
“The main purpose of the Russian fleets’ visit to Iran is peace and friendship,” the Russian commander noted.
He also called Iran’s navy as a “powerful and modern” force.
After the meeting, the Iranian commander also spoke to reporters, announcing that naval cooperation between Iran and Russia will expand in the future.
Referring to the Caspian Sea as one of the world’s safest water bodies, Abdolhossein Zafari noted that the five Caspian littoral states play a significant role in ensuring security of the lake.
In late September and during the fourth summit of the Caspian Sea littoral states in the Russian city of Astrakhan, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani underlined that peace and security in the water body will materialize if the littoral countries avoid entering into an arms race and using armed forces in the lake.
Rouhani had also insisted that only the five countries around the Caspian Sea (Iran, Russia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, and Turkmenistan) should be entitled to maritime activities, rejecting the presence of armed forces from other foreign countries in the sea.
