The Russian president Vladimir Putin is visiting Tehran today for talks with Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the Kremlin leader’s first trip outside the former Soviet Union since Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24.
In Tehran, Putin will also have his first face-to-face meeting with a leader of a NATO member state, the president of Turkey Tayyip Erdogan, to discuss an agreement that would allow the resumption of grain exports from the Ukrainian ports on the Black Sea as well as the peace in Syria.
Putin’s trip, which comes just days after US President Joe Biden visited Israel and Saudi Arabia, sends a strong message to the West on Moscow’s plans to forge closer strategic ties with Iran, China and India against the western sanctions.
“Contact with Khamenei is very important,” Yuri Usakov, Putin’s foreign policy adviser, told reporters in Moscow. “A dialogue of trust has developed between them on the most important issues in bilateral and international agenda».
“On most issues, our positions are close or identical”
Putin will also meet him Iranian president Ibrahim Raisi who was elected last year.
As reported by the Athens News Agency, for the Iranstruggling to cope under the weight of Western sanctions and at odds with the United States over Tehran’s nuclear program and a host of other issues, Putin’s visit comes at an opportune time.
Its religious leaders are eager to strengthen strategic ties with Russia in the face of an emerging US-backed coalition of Gulf Arab states and Israel that could shift the balance in the Middle East even further than Iran.
“Regarding the ongoing geopolitical ties after war in Ukrainethe (religious) establishment is trying to secure Moscow’s support in Tehran’s confrontation with Washington and its regional allies,” said a senior Iranian official, who asked not to be named.
Encouraged by high oil prices after the start of the war in Ukraine, Iran hopes that with Russia’s support it could pressure Washington into making concessions for its revival 2015 nuclear deal.
“We need a strong ally and Moscow is a superpower,” said a senior Iranian official who spoke on condition of anonymity.
But Russia’s increased “tilt” toward Beijing in recent months has significantly reduced Iranian crude exports to China — an important img of income for Tehran after then-US President Donald Trump reinstated sanctions in 2018.
In May, Reuters reported that Iranian crude exports to China fell sharply as Beijing preferred barrels of deeply discounted Russian crude, leaving nearly 40 million barrels of Iranian oil stored on tankers in Asia and looking for buyers.
Before Putin’s arrival, the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) and Russian gas producer Gazprom signed a memorandum of understanding worth about $40 billion, according to Iran’s Oil Ministry news agency SHANA.
The agreement was signed during a ceremony that streamed online by the managing directors of the two companies.
THE Gazprom will help NIOC develop the Kis and North Pars gas fields and also six oil wells, according to SHANA. Gazprom will also be involved in the completion of liquefied natural gas (LNG) projects and the construction of gas export pipelines.
Iran has the second-largest gas reserves after Russia, but US sanctions have hampered access to technology and slowed the growth of gas exports.
Syria, Ukraine
High on the agenda of today’s tripartite talks, which will also include Turkey, will be efforts to reduce violence in Syria, where Erdogan is threatening to launch more military operations in order to expand 30 km deep “security zones” along the border. Moscow and Tehran both oppose any such actions by Turkey.
“Maintaining the territorial integrity of Syria is very important, and any military attack on northern Syria will undoubtedly harm Turkey, Syria and the entire region and benefit terroristsKhamenei told Erdogan.
Any Turkish operation in Syria would also include an attack on the Kurdish YPG militia, a major part of the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) that control large parts of northern Syria and are seen by Washington as a key ally against the Islamic State group.
The highest rank Turkish official said that Turkey’s planned operation would be discussed, as well as information according to which the Russia and the Kurds conduct joint operations in some areas of Syria.
Russia and Iran are the strongest backers of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, while Turkey supports the rebels against Assad.
Putin, who this year turning 70, has done little traveling abroad in recent years due to the Covid pandemic and subsequently the Ukrainian crisis. His last trip beyond countries of the former Soviet Union he was in China on February.
His bilateral talks with Erdogan will focus on a plan to restart exports of Ukrainian grain.
Russia, Ukraine, Turkey and the United Nations are expected to sign an agreement later this week to resume shipping grain from Ukraine across the Black Sea.
Source: News Beast
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