The presidents of Russia and Iran have held talks in the Kremlin before the signing of a broad cooperation pact to deepen their partnership amid stinging Western sanctions.

The agreement is focused more on trade than military issues, but it will bring two countries with a shared desire to challenge the West closer together.

A strategic cooperation agreement that Russia and Iran are poised to sign will not include a mutual defence clause like pacts that Moscow has signed with Pyongyang and Minsk, the state TASS news agency reported on Thursday,

Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Iranian counterpart Masoud Pezeshkian on Friday signed a 20-year strategic partnership treaty that includes closer defence cooperation, something likely to worry the West.

(Reuters) - Russia signed a strategic partnership treaty with Iran on Friday that follows similar pacts with China and North Korea. All three countries are adversaries of the United States, and Russia has used its ties with them to help blunt the impact of Western sanctions and boost its war effort in Ukraine.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Iranian counterpart, Masoud Pezeshkian, signed a broad cooperation pact Friday as their countries deepened their partnership in the face of stinging Western sanctions.

Advisers to President-elect Donald Trump are crafting a wide-ranging sanctions strategy to facilitate a Russia-Ukraine diplomatic accord in the coming months while at the same time squeezing Iran and Venezuela,

Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Iranian counterpart, Masoud Pezeshkian, signed a broad cooperation pact Friday as their countries deepened their partnership in the face of stinging Western sanctions.

Just three days before US President-elect Donald Trump returns to the White House, Russia and Iran have finally signed a “comprehensive partnership agreement,” a deal that had been in the works for months.

Iran has long sought an alliance to protect it in the face of potential conflict with adversaries, but the text of the agreement falls short of obligating either party to provide military support in the event of foreign aggression.

TEL AVIV, January 19. /TASS/. The agreement on the ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and the release of Israeli hostages kept there is expected to come into force at 08:30 a.m. local time (06:30 a.m. GMT). Israeli authorities are preparing to receive the first group of hostages held by Palestinian radicals for more than a year.