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Speaker of the Islamic Consultative Assembly of Iran Ali Larijani (retranslated): Mr President, I am very pleased to have this chance to meet.

President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Likewise.

Let me start by thanking you for coming to Russia to take part in the Valdai Club discussions. I know that you made a very big contribution to settling the nuclear programme issue. This is a personal achievement for you in this sense and I want to congratulate you on this success.

Our relations today are developing very productively. My most recent meeting and talks with the Iranian President in New York were constructive and substantial. I ask you to pass my best wishes to Iran’s leaders, the spiritual leader, and the President.

Iran is making a very big and constructive contribution to the fight against terrorism, including in Syria. We value greatly our cooperation in this area, including through the information centre in Baghdad. Our position is that there can be no long-term and stable settlement in Syria without Iran’s participation.

It will be my pleasure to inform you during this meeting about my meeting and talks with Syria’s President al-Assad. We will inform you too, of course, about the results of the four countries’ foreign ministers meeting on Friday.

Ali Larijani: Thank you very much for this opportunity to meet. Your speech was very useful. I was particularly interested in the part when you answered questions. We discussed many different subjects. Thank you very much for this.

As you said, relations between Iran and Russia are developing with great success. We consider your role in the region very responsible and effective and we support the idea of Russia playing a more active role in the region and doing more to strengthen stability and security.

We thank you for the constructive role Russia played in settling the situation with the Iranian nuclear programme. If you recall, it was Russia that proposed the 5+1 formula. Many other proposals also came from Russia. We thank you for your contribution to resolving these issues and we will never forget this.

Our friendship is growing deeper and we are entering a new stage now. Working with Russia will be a priority for us. It is a good thing that the Iranian parliament has approved the nuclear programme decision, and the senior leadership has also given its approval. We will hold closer consultations with you in the future and will work together.

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