This week, the P5+1 group — US, UK, France, Germany, Russia and China — and Iran hope to agree on guarantees of the exclusively peaceful character of Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for a step-by-step lifting of international sanctions against the Islamic Republic.

The final sixth round of negotiations between the six world powers and Iran has been underway in Vienna since July 2, with the participants initially intending to come to an agreement by July 20. The deadline, however, may be extended, Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said Thursday.

Putin met with Rouhani in China in late May. The Russian president said Russia and Iran were not only neighbors, but also long-standing reliable partners, and expressed hope for Russian-Iranian cooperation to continue despite international turbulence around Iran. Rouhani, in his turn, said relations between the two countries in recent years have become more warm and trusting.

In Friday’s phone conversation, Putin and Rouhani also discussed the situation in Iraq and the escalation of Israeli-Palestinian tensions in the Gaza strip.

«Both sides underlined the need to end the military confrontation as soon as possible and to resume direct Israeli-Palestinian negotiations," the statement reads.