Daily SumUp

Lawmakers in Russia’s lower-house State Duma on Tuesday ratified a 20-year strategic partnership treaty with Iran, deepening military and political ties between the two countries as they remain under heavy Western sanctions.

The pact, signed by President Vladimir Putin and his Iranian counterpart Masoud Pezeshkian in January, aims to strengthen cooperation in areas including defense, intelligence sharing, trade and nuclear energy.

“The agreement takes [Russian-Iranian relations] to a fundamentally new level,” Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin said last week ahead of the vote.