Secretary of State John F. Kerry raised U.S. concerns about a reported visit by the head of Iran’s paramilitary Quds Force to Moscow last month in a conversation Thursday with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, the State Department said.
The Quds Force’s Maj. Gen. Qasem Soleimani is subject
to travel prohibitions under nuclear- and ballistic-missile-
related sanctions imposed by the United Nations. Those sanctions are scheduled to be lifted eight years after the negotiated nuclear deal reached last month between Tehran and world powers goes into effect.
Since media accounts initially reported that Soleimani had traveled to Moscow in late July, meeting with President Vladimir Putin and Russia’s defense minister, Russia has not commented. The Obama administration has said repeatedly that it has no independent confirmation of such a trip or its purpose.