Russia, Iran leaders discuss situation in Yemen, Iranian nuclear file, bilateral issues

MOSCOW, March 26. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Iranian counterpart Hassan Rouhani have discussed in a phone conversation the situation in Yemen, Iran’s nuclear program and bilateral cooperation issues, the Kremlin reported Thursday. "Putin and Rouhani exchanged opinions regarding the sharply escalated situation in the Republic of Yemen," the Kremlin said. "The Russian side stressed the necessity to immediately stop hostilities and boost efforts, including in the UN, to work out variants of peaceful solution to the conflict." The presidents noted with satisfaction "progress achieved at the talks of the six international negotiators with Iran on settlement of the situation around Iran’s nuclear program." "The hope was expressed for successful holding of a regular round of contacts in that format that started today in Lausanne," the Kremlin said. In the conversation requested by the Iranian side, "urgent issues of successfully developing Russian-Iranian relations were discussed in detail, reciprocal interest was expressed to make additional steps to expand trade and economic ties as well as cooperation in the sphere of nuclear power industry," it said. At a meeting in Vienna in November 2014, the P5+1 (the five permanent members of the UN Security Council - the United States, Russia, China, the United Kingdom, and France plus Germany) and Tehran agreed to extend the deadline for an agreement in the talks on Iran’s nuclear program to June 30, 2015. The agreement stipulated that by the end of March 2015, the sides planned to achieve a principled political decision regarding disputed issues. Iran says it needs nuclear power to generate electricity, but Western powers led by the United States claim Tehran's eventual aim is to create nuclear weapons. Yemen has been hit by a severe political crisis since August 2014. In late January 2015, the armed groups of Ansar Allah (Houthi rebels) forced the president and the government to resign. Overnight to March 26, Saudi Arabia launched a military operation in the neighboring country and delivered air strikes at several Houthi positions. Pro-government forces regained control of the Aden airport on Thursday. Read more