TEHRAN, Iran — Russian President Vladimir Putin’s go to to Iran beginning Tuesday is meant to deepen ties with regional heavyweights as a part of Moscow’s challenge to the United States and Europe amid its grinding marketing campaign in Ukraine.
In solely his second journey overseas since Russian tanks rolled into its neighbor in February, Putin is scheduled to maintain talks with Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan concerning the urgent points going through the area, together with the battle in Syria and a U.N.-backed proposal to resume exports of Ukrainian grain to ease the worldwide meals disaster.
As the West heaps sanctions on Russia and the expensive marketing campaign drags on, Putin is searching for to bolster ties with Tehran, a fellow goal of extreme U.S. sanctions and a possible army and commerce associate. In latest weeks, Russian officers visited an airfield in central Iran not less than twice to assessment Tehran’s weapons-capable drones for attainable use in Ukraine, the White House has alleged.
But maybe most crucially, the Tehran journey presents Putin an opportunity for a high-stakes assembly with Erdogan, who has sought to assist dealer talks on a peaceable settlement of the Russia-Ukraine battle, in addition to assist negotiations to unblock Ukrainian grain by way of the Black Sea.
Turkey, a NATO member, has discovered itself reverse Russia in bloody conflicts in Azerbaijan, Libya and Syria. It has even bought deadly drones that Ukrainian forces have used to assault Russia. But Turkey hasn’t imposed sanctions on the Kremlin, making it a sorely wanted associate for Moscow. Grappling with runaway inflation and a quickly depreciating foreign money, Turkey additionally depends on the Russian market.
The gathering has symbolic which means for Putin’s home viewers as nicely, exhibiting off Russia’s worldwide clout even because it grows more and more remoted and plunges deeper into confrontation with the West. It comes simply days after President Joe Biden’s visited Israel and Saudi Arabia — Tehran’s major rivals within the area.
From Jerusalem and Jeddah, Biden urged Israel and Arab nations to push again on Russian, Chinese and Iranian affect that has expanded with the notion of America’s retreat from the area.
It was a tricky promote. Israel maintains good relations with Putin, a necessity given Russian presence in Syria, Israel’s northeastern neighbor and frequent goal of its airstrikes. Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have to this point declined to pump extra oil past a plan permitted by their vitality alliance with Moscow.
But all of the nations — regardless of their long-standing rivalries — might agree on drawing nearer to counter Iran, which has quickly superior its nuclear program since former President Donald Trump deserted Tehran’s atomic accord with world powers and reimposed crushing sanctions. Talks to restore the deal have hit a impasse. On his journey, Biden stated he’d be keen to use army drive in opposition to Iran as a final resort.
Backed right into a nook by the West and its regional rivals, the Iranian authorities is ramping up uranium enrichment, cracking down on dissent and grabbing headlines with optimistic, hard-line stances meant to preserve the Iranian foreign money, the rial, from crashing. Without sanctions aid in sight, Iran’s tactical partnership with Russia has develop into one in every of survival, at the same time as Moscow seems to be undercutting Tehran within the black market oil commerce.
“Iran is (the) center of dynamic diplomacy,” Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian wrote on Twitter, including the conferences will “develop economic cooperation, focus on security of the region via political solution … and ensure food security.”
Fadahossein Maleki, a member of the Iranian parliament’s influential committee on nationwide safety and international coverage, described Russia as Iran’s “most strategic partner” on Monday. His feedback belied many years of animosity stemming from Russia’s occupation of Iran throughout World War II — and its refusal to go away afterward.
Putin’s international affairs adviser Yuri Ushakov referred to as Iran “an important partner for Russia” in a briefing Monday, saying the nations shared “a desire to take their relations to a new level of strategic partnership.”
In his fifth go to to Tehran, Putin will meet Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, with whom he has a “trusting dialogue,” Ushakov stated. He may even maintain talks with President Raisi on points together with Tehran’s nuclear deal, of which Russia is a key signatory. The leaders met in Moscow in January and once more final month in Turkmenistan.
The focus of the talks among the many three presidents would be the decade-old battle in Syria, the place Iran and Russia have backed President Bashar Assad’s authorities, whereas Turkey has supported armed opposition factions. Russia intervened within the battle in 2015, pooling efforts with Lebanon’s Hezbollah militants and Iranian forces and utilizing its air energy to shore up Assad’s fledgling army and in the end turning the tide in his favor.
Ushakov stated the events will talk about efforts to encourage a political settlement, whereas Erdogan is anticipated to take up Turkey’s threats of a brand new army offensive in northern Syria to drive away U.S.-backed Syrian Kurdish fighters from its borders. The operation is a part of Turkey’s plan to create a protected zone alongside its border with Syria that may encourage the voluntary return of Syrian refugees.
In a gathering with Erdogan, Khamenei delivered a stern warning in opposition to the deliberate Turkish incursion.
“Any sort of military attack in northern Syria will definitely harm Turkey, Syria and the entire region, and will benefit terrorists,” Iran’s prime chief stated, stressing the necessity to “bring the issue to an end through talks.”