This Afternoon (Tuesday), Ayatollah Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution, met with Russian President Mr Vladimir Putin and his delegation. During this meeting, stressed the necessity of operationalizing the agreements and contracts between the two countries and considered it necessary to be vigilant against the deceitful policies of the West. He noted that the long-term cooperation of Iran and Russia profoundly benefits both countries.

In this meeting, Ayatollah Khamenei emphasized that the world events show the need for Iran and Russia to increase cooperation and added: There are many contracts and agreements between the two countries, including in the oil and gas industry, must be followed up and implemented to the end.

He considered the economic cooperation between Iran and Russia, especially in the wake of Western sanctions, as necessary and in the interest of both countries. He said about the events in Ukraine: War is a harsh and challenging category, and the Islamic Republic is not at all happy that ordinary people suffer from it, but in the case of Ukraine, if you did not take the initiative, the other side would have caused the war with its own initiative.

Emphasizing that Westerners are entirely against a strong and independent Russia, the Leader of the Revolution called NATO a dangerous entity and added: If the road is open to NATO, it knows no boundaries, and if it were not stopped in Ukraine, it would have started the same war sometime later under the pretext of Crimea.

Ayatollah Khamenei noted: Of course, today, America and the West are weaker than before, and despite the tremendous effort and expense, the success of their policies in our region, including in Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, and Palestine, has been dramatically reduced.

He called the issue of Syria very important and emphasized the position of the Islamic Republic on opposing a military attack on this country and the need to prevent it. He said: Another critical issue in Syria is the occupation of the fertile and oil-rich areas east of the Euphrates by the Americans, which should be resolved by expelling them from that area.

Ayatollah Khamenei condemned the interference of the Zionist regime in the affairs of the region and praised the recent positions of the Russian President against the Zionists.

He further emphasized that the Islamic Republic will never tolerate policies and programs that lead to closing the border between Iran and Armenia.

The Leader of the revolution called the long-term cooperation between Iran and Russia truly and profoundly beneficial to both countries and said to Mr Putin: Your Excellency and our President are both people of action and follow-up, so the cooperation between the two countries should reach its peak in this period.

By confirming the words of the President of Russia about the necessity of starting the Rasht-Astara railway line, he considered this work to complete the North-South transportation line and beneficial to both countries.

Ayatollah Khamenei also called vigilance against the deception of the West necessary and said that Americans are both a bully and cunning, and one of the factors of the collapse of the former Soviet Union was being deceived by the American policies. Of course, Russia has maintained its independence during your time.

He also approved the policy of replacing the US dollar with the national currencies in the relations between the two countries and using other currencies instead of the US dollar. He said: The dollar should be gradually removed from the path of global transactions, which is possible gradually.

In this meeting, which was attended by Mr Raisi, the President of Iran, Mr Putin said about the events in Ukraine: No one is in favour of war, and the loss of lives of ordinary people is a great tragedy. However, the behaviour of the West made us have no choice but to react.

Mr Putin by enumerating the factors and roots of the conflicts between Russia and Ukraine, primarily the provocative actions of the West and the United States in recent years, including the coup in Ukraine, as well as NATO's expansion policy, despite their previous commitments to avoid any advance towards Russia, the Russian President said: Some European countries noted that we were against Ukraine's membership in NATO. Still, they agreed to it under American pressure, which shows their lack of sovereignty and independence.

Mr Putin cited the assassination of General Soleimani as another example of American evils in another part of his speech. He referred to Western sanctions against Russia and said: These sanctions are detrimental to the West, resulting in problems such as increased oil prices and the food supply crisis.

Referring to the US's misuse of the dollar as a tool to embargo and loot other countries, the Russian President considered this to be ultimately detrimental to them and to weaken global trust in this currency and the movement of countries to use alternative currencies and said: Russia and Iran are preparing new methods to use national currencies in the relations between the two countries.

After admitting the stance of the Leader of the revolution regarding the Caucasus region, the President of Russia, called the positions of the two countries on the Syrian issue, including the opposition to the military attack on the north of this country, completely compatible with each other and said: The east of the Euphrates must be under the control of the Syrian military forces.

Mr Putin considered the cooperation between the two countries to be progressing in all sectors and projects and added: Iran and Russia are jointly fighting terrorism in Syria, and in the military field, we are also trying to develop cooperation between the two countries, as well as trilateral cooperation and manoeuvres with China.