Russian Security Council secretary to visit Iran

Secretary of the Russian Security Council Nikolai Patrushev will pay a visit to Iran on August 15 at the invitation of Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council Saeed Jalili. During his stay in Iran, Patrushev will also meet with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and other top-ranking officials. It is expected that Patrushev will discuss Russia’s proposals on reciprocal steps in settling the Iranian nuclear program, Iran’s official news agency (IRNA) reported. During his recent visit to Washington, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said, "We believe that in response to every concrete move by Iran it is important to make some reciprocal move in terms of freezing sanctions, and then, as progress continues – cutting their amount". In reply, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said his country agreed to cooperate with the IAEA by making steps to meet it. "They offer us to make step by step. Excellent. We have made our step cooperating with the IAEA. Now we wait for a reciprocal move, after which we are ready to work out a program of further moves," the Iranian president said.