Think Tank
Valdai Club and Iranian Institute for Political and International Studies to Hold Fourth Russian-Iranian Dialogue
Online Discussion
List of speakers

On July 15, at 12:00 noon Moscow time (GMT+3), the Fourth Russian-Iranian dialogue will take place. The closed-door forum is being organised by the Valdai Discussion Club in partnership with the Iranian Institute for Political and International Studies (IPIS). Following its conclusion, a press conference will be held at 14:30. We invite media representatives to participate in the press conference.

The Russian-Iranian dialogue was launched in 2017 by the Valdai Club and the Institute for Political and International Studies (IPIS) and the annual forum has taken place alternately in Moscow and Tehran. This year, the event will be held online for the first time. IPIS is led by Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Seyed Kazem Sajjadpour. The institute coordinates its activities with the Iranian Foreign Ministry and is under direct patronage of Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif.

This year, the agenda of the Russian-Iranian dialogue has been determined by the aggravation of the situation in the Middle East, against the backdrop of the coronavirus pandemic. The escalation of the military confrontation between Iran and the USA, including new episodes of “tanker wars” and the exchange of missile attacks on Iraq early this year, have posed a new challenge to regional stability. Another stage of US sanctions pressure on Iran coincided with the presentation of a new American vision for resolving the Palestinian-Israeli conflict – the so-called “deal of the century”. The US insists on extending the arms embargo against Iran, which, according to recent statements by Iranian representatives, could lead to the “death of the JCPOA”. It remains unclear how decisive the US will be in pursuing this conflict with Iran, taking into account the on-going presidential race in the United States and the disagreement between Americans and the JCPOA’s co-signatories, including Washington’s European partners. 

These processes take place amid the critical challenges posed by the coronavirus pandemic, which has exacerbated the problems of political and social stability throughout the world. An additional circumstance complicating the strategic picture in the region is climate change, which affects grain productivity. As in the case of Egypt in 2011, this could have large-scale political consequences.

The forum will be attended by Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Seyed Kazem Sajjadpour, President of the Institute for Political and International Studies (IPIS); Mehdi Sanaei, Senior Advisor to the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Iran and Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Iran to Russia (2013-2019); Sabah Zangeneh, Iran’s ambassador to the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (1990-1997); Saeed Khatibzadeh, Vice President for Research of the Institute for Political and International Studies (IPIS); Mir Mahmoud Mousavi, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Iran to Pakistan (1984-1989) and to India (1998-2002) and others.

From the Russian side, Andrey Bystritskiy, Chairman of the Board of the Foundation for Development and Support Fund of the Valdai Discussion Club will take part, as well as Vitaly Naumkin, Academic Director of the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences; Andrey Sushentsov, Programme Director of the Valdai Discussion Club; Andrey Baklitskiy, PIR Center Consultant, Analyst, Institute for International Studies, MGIMO, Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and others.

For accreditation, you need to fill out the accreditation form on our website, indicate your personal mobile number, and have the WhatsApp application installed.

You can ask the speakers a question by sending it before the broadcast or live to press@valdaiclub.com or via WhatsApp to the number: +79269307763. Be sure to include your name and position, as well as the name of the speaker to whom the question is addressed. Questions will be asked during the Q&A session.

A link to the live broadcast of the meeting will be posted on all online platforms used by the Valdai Club, including our website, TelegramFacebookVkontakteTwitterInstagram.