The meeting is another sign of the "axis of resistance expanding itself", military analyst Cedric Leighton told CNN. Russia and Iran have had "good relations" in recent years but "now they're upping the ante" and it won't be long before we see an agreement between the two countries with a more "formalised set up" – "an alliance of sorts".

President Vladimir Putin on Friday told a conference in the Central Asian country of Turkmenistan that a new world order was needed where wealth was more fairly redistributed and the opinions of each nation taken into account.