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He made the remarks in a meeting with Managing Director of Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) Seyyed Zia Hashemi. Deputy Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance for Press Affairs Mohammad Soltanifar also attended the meeting.
Asked about topics of the upcoming talks between Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump in Finland, he said, “Iran is our friend and we will never sell out our friend to others, as anybody who sells his friend will lose credibility.”
Noting that strengthening Tehran-Moscow ties will benefit the two countries, he said that no country will do anything to its detriment.
Elsewhere in his talks, he said that Russian delegation’s visit to Tehran is aimed at setting up an office and boosting relations with Iran.
Soltanifar, for his part, said that currently 5,000 media are operating in Iran, of which 3,000 are printed or released online.
Some 29 news agencies have obtained licenses of which 20 are currently active in the country, he said.
Iran currently hosts 160 foreign media offices operating with 300 reporters, he said, adding that most of the media are from Western states including the US with 10 media outlets followed by European countries.
Hashemi told the same meeting that IRNA welcomes stepping up cooperation with Russian media outlets.
Commenting on IRNA’s activities, he said that the entity produces over 500,000 news annually.
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