Iranian FM to visit Turkey, Russia for bilateral talks

Tehran, June 12 (IANS) Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif will travel to Turkey and Russia next week for talks on bilateral as well as on international issues, official IRNA news agency reported.Zarif will travel to Ankara on Sunday and will visit Moscow the following day to discuss the latest developments on the issues pertaining to the bilateral relations and the major regional and international issues, the Foreign Ministry Spokesman, Abbas Mousavi, was quoted as saying on Thursday, Xinhua news agency reported.The Iranian foreign minister's visit to Turkey and Russia would be his second diplomatic trip after a recent decline in the pace of COVID-19 increase.Zarif visited Syria last month and discussed the topics of mutual cooperation amidst the impacts of novel coronavirus outburst and mounting western sanction pressures on Syria. On Friday, Iran's Foreign Ministry slammed the renewal of European sanctions on Syria and condemned the recent introduction of new financial bans against the country as "unlawful and inhuman."Iran and Russia have been major allies of the Syrian government against the armed rebels since 2011.
--IANS rt/