Russian President Putin arrives in Iran for talks | News | DW

Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived in Tehran on Tuesday forward of talks together with his Iranian and Turkish counterparts on key points affecting the area.

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will focus on the continued battle in Syria in addition to the UN-backed proposal to permit for grain to be exported from Ukrainian ports.

The three regional powers have a posh relationship of shared pursuits and conflicts. The talks mark Putin’s second journey exterior of Russia for the reason that starting of the conflict in Ukraine in February and the primary face-to-face assembly with a NATO member chief.

The talks additionally come days after US President Joe Biden visited Washington’s key allies within the area — Saudi Arabia and Israel, in addition to the Palestinian Territories.

Turkey’s function on the talks

Forward of the trilateral talks, Iranian Supreme Chief Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned Erdogan towards additional aggression in Syria. Each Iran and Russia help President Bashar Assad’s regime, whereas Turkey has thrown its weight behind sure anti-Assadist teams.

“Sustaining the territorial integrity of Syria is essential, and any army assault in northern Syria will positively hurt Turkey, Syria and your entire area, and profit terrorists,” Khamenei instructed Erdogan.

Shiite Iran and Sunni Turkey have clashed over competing makes an attempt to affect the battle in Syria

Turkey has threatened to launch a army operation into northern Syria, notably areas managed by Kurdish teams, to increase a so-called “protected zone.”

Ankara has additionally discovered itself on the other facet of Moscow in conflicts in Azerbaijan and Libya, and has even offered drones to Ukraine. However its function as a NATO member that has not imposed sanctions, makes Turkey a much-needed companion for Russia. 

Erdogan has additionally confirmed to be a thorn within the facet of NATO’s plan to rapidly settle for Sweden and Finland into the alliance.

Iran and Russia’s competitors and cooperation

Iran and Russia now discover themselves in the identical boat within the face of extreme financial sanctions which have already taken a big toll on Iran.

But the 2 are additionally financial opponents as key oil and fuel exporters. This turned even clearer after Russia pivoted its export focus to China following the western sanctions. China has been a key marketplace for Iranian power.

On the identical time, Iran can be going through an more and more united regional bloc consisting of the Sunni Arab Gulf states and Israel whose virtually solely shared curiosity is in countering Iran’s affect and advancing nuclear program.

Iran is probably going hoping to stress the US into accepting concessions to revive the 2015 nuclear deal because of the rising value of power that was made moot by Washington’s unilateral withdrawal beneath the Trump regime in 2018. Subsequent sanctions have crippled Iran’s economic system.

Nonetheless, on Tuesday, shortly forward of Putin’s arrival, the Nationwide Iranian Oil Firm (NIOC) and Russian state-run fuel large Gazprom signed an settlement value $40 billion (€39 billion) to hunt out choices for cooperation.

ab/nm (AP, Reuters)