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REUTERS: Belarus seeks to deepen ties with Iran in all areas including “military-technical cooperation,” state news agency Belta quoted President Alexander Lukashenko as telling his Iranian counterpart Masoud Pezeshkian on Wednesday.
It said Pezeshkian, on a visit to Belarus, said Iran was ready to help Belarus to “neutralize illegal Western sanctions.”
Belarus and Iran — two countries that have backed Russia’s war in Ukraine — plan to deepen bilateral ties across all areas including defense, their presidents said at talks in Minsk on Wednesday.
Belarusian state news agency Belta said presidents Alexander Lukashenko and Masoud Pezeshkian agreed to work on a strategic partnership treaty.
“In conditions of geopolitical turbulence, Minsk and Tehran are undertaking consistent and balanced steps to further develop cooperation, and are working hard to turn each new challenge into a new opportunity,” it quoted Lukashenko as saying.
“We are ready to discuss any issues, we have no closed topics,” Lukashenko said, adding that the two countries could partner across a range of areas including “military-technical cooperation.”
Lukashenko, a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, allowed Russia to use Belarusian territory as a launchpad for its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, and later assented to hosting Russian tactical nuclear missiles.
Iran has supplied drones to Russia for use in the war and Pezeshkian signed a strategic cooperation treaty with Putin in January, although it did not include a mutual defense clause.
Both Iran and Belarus are under what Pezeshkian described as “illegal Western sanctions.” Belta quoted him as saying Iran was ready to help Belarus “neutralize” such measures, noting that it had more than 40 years of experience in this area.
Pezeshkian said the two countries needed to build their economic and other ties to a level that matched the high level of trust between them.
“Of course, our common views should be implemented in the economic and cultural spheres, in the development of tourism between our countries, and also, as you noted, in the development of military-technical cooperation,” Belta quoted him as telling Lukashenko.

LONDON: A member of Irish rap group Kneecap was welcomed by hundreds of supporters as he arrived at a London court on Wednesday, charged with a terrorism offense for allegedly displaying a flag in support of Iran-backed Lebanese militia Hezbollah.
Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh, who was initially charged under the Anglicized name Liam O’Hanna and whose stage name is Mo Chara, is alleged to have waved the flag of the banned militant group Hezbollah during a Kneecap gig in London in November 2024.
The 27-year-old was charged in May under the Terrorism Act, under which it is a criminal offense to display an article in a way which arouses reasonable suspicion that someone is a supporter of a proscribed organization.
Wednesday’s hearing at Westminster Magistrates’ Court is expected to deal with Óg Ó hAnnaidh’s argument that the charge was brought too late and should be thrown out, failing which he is likely to formally enter a plea.
Belfast-based Kneecap, who rap in Irish and English and regularly display pro-Palestinian messages during their gigs, previously said the flag had been thrown on stage and described the charge as an attempt to silence them.
The group – who rap about Irish identity and support the republican cause of uniting Northern Ireland with the Republic of Ireland – have been increasingly vocal about the war in Gaza since Óg Ó hAnnaidh was charged.
Kneecap led a 30,000-strong crowd at Glastonbury Festival in June in chants against Prime Minister Keir Starmer and accused Israel of committing war crimes in Gaza, which Israel denies.