Iranian minister in Moscow for talks on oil market
Iran's oil minister arrived in the Russian capital, Moscow, on Monday for high-level talks with the country's officials on the oil market and cooperation between the two countries in the area of energy.
The visit by Bijan Zangeneh comes at a time when the US has imposed sanctions on Iran's oil imports and the OPEC member and non-member oil producers will decide on their policies for the year 2019 in a few weeks.
Russia as a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council has often taken different stances from those of Washington on various issues, including the Iran nuclear deal, Palestine, Syria, Afghanistan and Venezuela.
Moscow has also vetoed a number of anti-Iran resolutions with the latest one in February that was proposed by Britain.
Russia is one of the most influential players in the global oil and gas markets thanks to its large reservoirs and huge amount of energy exports. Many consider Moscow to be the leader of non-OPEC exporters with a major role in price control of the global markets.
Experts also maintain that the visit to Moscow by the Iranian oil minister gets far more important with reference to recent remarks by Henry Kissinger in which the US veteran politician endorsed Russia's significant role in the global system.
Kissinger has also described Russia as an integral part of a new world order that the US needs to cooperate with on the Middle East.
Pundits argue that there remains no doubt that coordination and consultation with Russia ahead of the new round of US sanctions is of a vital importance to Iran.
Zangeneh is scheduled to meet and hold talks later on Monday with his Russian counterpart Alexander Valentinovich Novak.