MOSCOW (IRNA) – Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Saturday that the Islamic Republic of Iran can play a prominent role in resolving regional issues in Afghanistan and Iraq as well as other parts of the Middle East region.

Lavrov made the remark in the meeting of foreign policy and defensive council of Russia on Saturday.
Relations between Russia and its neighbor Iran is expanding at a high speed, he said adding that his country spares no efforts to remove remaining ambiguities over peaceful nature of Iran’s nuclear activities.
“Pressure on Iran has exceeded beyond our agreements with our partners,” he said.
“We are to underline that after removal of existing ambiguities, Iran will enjoy equal rights as other members of the NPT do,” he underlined.
He strongly denied any link between the issue of missile shield and Iran’s nuclear program and said deployment of U.S. missile system in East Europe should be attributed to offensive strategic weapons agreements between Russia and the U.S..
He also expressed satisfaction with improvement of relations between Russia and the U.S. and said “We need more time for confidence building between the two countries.”