Iranian Major General Qassem Soleimani has flown to Moscow for talks with Russia’s military and political leadership, three sources with knowledge of his trip said Friday.
“General Soleimani traveled to Moscow last night to discuss issues including the delivery of S-300s and further military cooperation,” one senior Iranian security official told Reuters, referring to an air defense system Russia is supplying Iran.
One Moscow-based Western diplomat said he understood Soleimani would meet Russian President Vladimir Putin and Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu. A Kremlin spokesman said a meeting with Soleimani was not on Putin’s schedule.
Soleimani, the commander of foreign operations for Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards, flew to Moscow in July last year to help Russia plans its military intervention in Syria and forge an Iranian-Russian alliance to support Syria’s President Bashar Assad.