Just three days before US President-elect Donald Trump returns to the White House, Russia and Iran are set to finally sign a “comprehensive partnership agreement,” a deal that’s been in the works for months.

Russian President Vladimir Putin hosted his Iranian counterpart Friday for the signing of a broad pact between Moscow and Tehran. The Kremlin says the “comprehensive strategic partnership” agreement between Putin and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian will take their cooperation to a new level.

Russia may supply up to 55 billion cubic metres (bcm) of gas per year to Iran, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday, as Moscow diversifies its gas flows after a dramatic fall in exports to Europe.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Iranian counterpart, Masoud Pezeshkian, signed a broad cooperation pact Friday as their countries deepened their partnership in the face of stinging Western sanctions.

Iran has already supplied Russia with self-detonating "Shahed" drones that Moscow fires on Ukraine in nightly barrages, according to Ukrainian and Western officials. Sitting next to Putin in the Kremlin after signing the treaty, Pezeshkian called for a political settlement to end the nearly three-year conflict.

Iran has long sought an alliance to protect it in the face of potential conflict with adversaries, but the text of the agreement falls short of obligating either party to provide military support in the event of foreign aggression.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian have signed a comprehensive strategic partnership treaty amid their countries' deepening confrontation with the West.

Advisers to President-elect Donald Trump are crafting a wide-ranging sanctions strategy to facilitate a Russia-Ukraine diplomatic accord in the coming months while at the same time squeezing Iran and Venezuela,

Russia signed a strategic partnership treaty with Iran on Friday that follows similar pacts with China and North Korea. All three countries are adversaries of the United States, and Russia has used its ties with them to help blunt the impact of Western sanctions and boost its war effort in Ukraine.

The presidents of Russia and Iran have held talks in the Kremlin on Friday before the signing of a broad cooperation pact between the two countries

The two countries sign a 20-year treaty covering areas ranging from defence and technology to energy and trade.