Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif arrived in the Russian capital Jan. 26, where he is scheduled to sit down with his counterpart Sergei Lavrov to exchange views on a wide array of regional and international topics.

Upon landing in Moscow, Zarif told reporters about “special circumstances” after the departure of former US president Donald Trump from the White House, a development which the Iranian foreign minister said “requires Iran and Russia to coordinate their policies.” 

After the US pullout from the Iran nuclear deal in 2018, Tehran has been relying significantly on Russia as its key ally among the remaining signatories. To this end, Zarif has been visiting Moscow more frequently than ever in the past two years in an effort to secure Russian support to salvage the accord.

According to the Iranian foreign minister, Syria is also part of the agenda in his talks with Russian officials. Both the Islamic Republic and the Russian Federation have been present in Syria to shore up their ally Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Yet the two sides have also been in a covert rivalry over who calls the shots on the ground in the battle against armed groups in the Syria conflict.