Iran has announced that negotiations with Russia on a major natural gas supply agreement have entered the final stage, bringing the long-anticipated energy deal closer to completion.

Iranian Minister of Petroleum Mohsen Paknejad said the key terms of the final gas trade agreement have been agreed upon during talks with Russian Energy Minister Sergey Tsivilev in Tehran, The Caspian Post reports via TASS.

"The main provisions of the final gas trade agreement between Iran and Russia have been finalized, and both sides have planned to complete the remaining formalities as quickly as possible," Paknejad said.

The minister said that the meeting focused on expanding bilateral energy cooperation, including Russian investment in Iran's oil and gas fields. He added that the two sides also resolved several outstanding issues, with implementation measures already included in their joint agenda.

The planned gas deal follows earlier agreements reached by Moscow and Tehran. In January 2025, Russia announced that the two countries had approved the route of a gas pipeline to Iran via Azerbaijan, while negotiations on pricing had entered their final phase.

The project is expected to initially deliver up to 2 billion cubic meters of natural gas annually, with the potential to increase supplies to 55 billion cubic meters in the future. Iranian officials have previously indicated that most technical and commercial issues with Gazprom have already been resolved, raising expectations that gas deliveries through Azerbaijan could begin in the near future.