FNA - Iran and Russia will further develop their bilateral relations and cooperation in the Caucasus region where the two sides have shared interests and see grounds for mutual cooperation.

Iran�s Ambassador to Moscow Mehdi Sanayee and Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin discussed enhancement of cooperation in the Caucasus region.

Sanayee stressed the need for promoting cooperation in Central Asia and Caucasus, in a meeting with Karasin late on Wednesday.

During the meeting, both sides voiced hope that level of bilateral relations would be further increased in the said areas.

Russia�s ties with Central Asian and Caucasus states and prospects of bilateral relations in various fields were among the other topics discussed during the meeting.

Iran and Russia have established strong relations on areas of security, counter-terrorism, and defense in the past couple of years.

In a related front on December 24, a delegation of the Russian defense ministry led by General Osipov arrived in Iran to take part in a second session of the Russian-Iranian working group for the implementation of a mutual agreement on military cooperation.

The agreement was signed in January 2015. It was inked by Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu and his then Iranian counterpart General Hossein Dehqan.

The Russian minister said back then that the agreement had laid "the theoretical groundwork for military cooperation".

In relevant remarks on December 25, Chief of Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces Major General Mohammad Hossein Baqeri underlined the need for Tehran and Moscow to further increase their military cooperation, adding that both countries were determined to confront existing threats.

"Success of the two countries' Armed Forces in the process of confronting terrorism in Syria and the failure of Takfiri terrorists and their supporters in the region indicates Iran and Russia's will and capacities to confront the existing threats," General Baqeri said in a meeting with General Osipov in Tehran.

"The geopolitical and geostrategic capacities of Iran and Russia necessitate the two countries' Armed Forces to devise and develop fields of cooperation through a long-term view, and manage and plan for them within the framework of the agreements made by the joint military commission," he added.

During the meeting, General Osipov referred to the age-old relations between Iran and Russia, and stressed the abundant areas and capacities existing for mutual cooperation.