Russian President Vladimir Putin could sit down for his first face-to-face meeting with Iran’s new Supreme Leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, later this year during the upcoming Caspian Summit, according to Iran’s ambassador to Moscow.
In an exclusive interview with RIA Novosti, Kazem Jalali, Iran’s envoy to Russia, revealed that the much-anticipated encounter might take place on the sidelines of the summit, scheduled for August 12 in Tehran.
However, Jalali made it clear that the timing of the meeting remains uncertain and will depend on regional developments — particularly whether the ongoing tensions between Iran, the United States, and Israel de-escalate in the coming months.
The Caspian Summit, which gathers the five nations bordering the Caspian Sea — Russia, Iran, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, and Turkmenistan — will focus on issues ranging from regional security to energy cooperation and trade.
Should the meeting take place, it would mark the first direct interaction between President Putin and Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei since the latter assumed Iran’s highest leadership role following the death of his father, former Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.
Experts suggest that a Putin-Khamenei meeting would signal a further deepening of the Moscow-Tehran alliance, especially as geopolitical tensions continue to escalate in the Middle East and beyond.
