MOSCOW, January 19. /TASS/. Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu has left for Iran on an official visit for signing a military cooperation agreement.

“While in Tehran Shoigu will hold talks with his Iranian counterpart Hossein Dehgan,” Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said.

“Crucial issues of global and regional security and measures to step up military and technical cooperation will be discussed at the meeting,” he said.

A military cooperation agreement is to be signed.

Previously, Shoigu and Dehgan met on the sidelines of the third Moscow conference on international security in May 2014. They noted the need for tighter defense cooperation, which, Shoigu said, “has always been of importance” to bilateral relations.

For his part Dehgan said Iran was interested in “propelling cooperation with Russia to a new level.”

Last autumn Shoigu paid his first-ever visit to Pakistan and signed a military cooperation agreement with that country. The Russian defense minister and his Pakistani counterpart, Khawaja Asif, discussed “a range of measures of specific interest.”