Russia and Iran foreign ministers to meet on nuclear deal, Syria

Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will host his Iranian counterpart Mohammad Javad Zarif on Monday to discuss the deal on Tehran's nuclear programme and the conflict in Syria.

"The visit is taking place in the context of an increasingly active Russian-Iranian dialogue of late that reflects the high level of mutual understanding between Moscow and Tehran," Russia's foreign ministry said in a statement Saturday.  

The two countries are on increasingly good terms and Russia helped steer through the landmark July agreement with world powers over Iran's nuclear programme.

Moscow is hoping that its firms can benefit from the nuclear deal, which should see economic sanctions lifted on Tehran.

Russia -- which along with Iran is one of the few remaining backers of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad -- has also launched a fresh diplomatic push to find a way out of Syria's four-year civil war that has cost some 240,000 lives.

A flurry of diplomacy saw the foreign minister of Saudi Arabia hold talks with Lavrov in Moscow this week, along with representatives of the Syrian opposition.

Russia wants a broader grouping to cooperate in the fight against the Islamic State jihadists that have seized swathes of territory in Iraq and Syria, expanding from a US-led coalition to include the Syrian government and its allies.