The head of Iran's elite military Quds Force, who is subject to a United Nations travel ban, has visited Russia, two U.S. security sources said Friday.
Qassem Soleimani, chief of the force which is an overseas arm of the Revolutionary Guards, has been subject to an international travel ban and asset freeze by the U.N. Security Council since 2007.
Fox News reported on Thursday that Soleimani had arrived in Moscow on July 24 and met President Vladimir Putin and Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu before departing three days later.
A Kremlin spokesman denied any meeting between Soleimani and Putin had taken place, RIA news agency reported.
The two U.S. security sources said the report was true and the United States believed the meeting between Putin and Soleimani took place.
One of the sources said Soleimani also had numerous other meetings in Moscow and that the visit took place in July. It was not clear what exactly was discussed.
A senior administration official in Washington said U.S. sanctions on Soleimani would remain in place despite a deal between Tehran and world powers last month in which Iran agreed to curb its nuclear program in exchange for easing sanctions.
"We will maintain sanctions on the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the Quds Force, its leadership - including Qassem Soleimani - and its entire network," the official said.
Two officials at the Russian Foreign Ministry said they could neither confirm nor deny a Soleimani visit to Moscow. The Russian defence ministry was not available for comment.
A spokesman for the Iranian embassy in Moscow could not be reached Friday and other embassy officials declined comment.
Washington designated Soleimani's Quds Force as a supporter of terrorism in 2007. The European Union did the same in 2011. U.N. member states are required to deny entry to blacklisted individuals.
Western governments and Israel accuse the Quds Force of arming various militant groups in the Middle East.
Soleimani has been involved in fighting Islamic State in Iraq and his Moscow visit, if confirmed, would come at a time when Russia is calling for a wide regional coalition in the Middle East to fight the Sunni jihadists as well as renewed high-level diplomatic efforts to end the conflict in Syria.
A Russian security expert with close ties to the country's defence ministry, Igor Korotchenko, could not say whether the visit took place but said Moscow and Tehran were close allies in fighting Islamic State.
"Russia is cooperating with Iranian authorities to stop Islamic State. Any meetings that help these efforts can only be good," Korotchenko said.
Russia is also readying to supply complex missile systems to Iran.
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