A senior Russian official has described Iran as Russia's valuable energy partner, saying that there is a "bright outlook" for cooperation between the two countries, IRNA reported.
"The Islamic Republic is our trusted partner in implementing gas and oil extraction plans and [constructing] energy-related components and we are interested in continuing this trend [of cooperation] in the future," Russia's Deputy Minister of Energy Yury Sentyurin told IRNA.
According to Iranian Oil Minister Rostam Qasemi, Iran has "17-20 percent" of the total global gas reserves as well as "12-15 percent" of the oil resources in the world, thus ranking first in terms of possessing these valuable sources of energy together.
Sentyurin added that Iran and Russia cooperate in various areas, including the reconstruction of war-torn Afghanistan.
"We have the same view as Iran about the reconstruction of Afghanistan and implementation of energy plans in the country."
Pointing to Western sanctions against Tehran over its nuclear energy program, the Russian official went on to say that "We monitor the situation surrounding Iran carefully and make all our efforts to find a way out of this situation."
He finally described dialog as the only correct way to address the differences over Iran, adding Moscow is trying to resolve the issues related to Tehran through reliance on "civilized methods."
Edited by: S. Isayev