Anjai Sharma
GG News Bureau
WASHINGTON, 23rd July. Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday held a trilateral summit in Tehran with Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan days after US President Joe Biden ended his trip to Israel and Saudi Arabia, according to notices on the Kremlin’s website published.
Putin said that “We are strengthening our cooperation on international security and making a tangible contribution to settling the Syrian conflict,” Putin said.
Iran’s Khamenei called for strengthening ‘long-term cooperation’ with Moscow and blame West for outbreak of Ukraine war.
Three leaders agreed to continue consultations and cooperation to “eliminate terrorists” in Syria, in a statement issued after their meeting.
They “reaffirmed the determination to continue their ongoing cooperation in order to ultimately eliminate terrorist individuals, groups, undertakings and entities, while ensuring the protection of the civilians and civilian infrastructure in accordance with international humanitarian law,” the statement read.
The decade-old conflict in Syria was top of the agenda for the summit, as Iran and Russia have backed Syrian President Bashar Assad’s government, while Turkey has supported armed opposition factions.
Erdogan urged both Russia and Iran to back its fights against “terrorism” in Syria.
He told in a joint news conference that Kurdish militias caused “great trouble” for both Iran and Turkey.
Putin called the summit “truly useful and rather substantial,” describing the atmosphere as “businesslike and constructive.”
He also invited Raisi and Erdogan to visit Russia for a follow-up meeting “before the end of the year.”
Putin arrived in Tehran on his second foreign visit since Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine in late February, which has largely isolated Russia on the global stage.
Putin said in a separate meeting with Raisi that Iranian-Russian relations “are developing at a good pace.”
He said Moscow and Tehran will “strengthen their cooperation on international security and contribute significantly to the Syrian settlement.”
“The long-term cooperation between Iran and Russia is deeply beneficial to both countries,” Khamenei said, according to his official website, which also noted that both countries are under Western sanctions.
“There are many understandings and contracts between the two countries, including in the oil and gas sector, which must be followed up and implemented fully,” he added.
Khamenei told Putin that although Iran “is not at all happy that ordinary people” are suffering from the Ukraine war, the West was to blame.
“If you did not take the initiative, the other side would have caused the war with its own initiative,” Khamenei said.
“I am very pleased to be on the hospitable Iranian soil…We can boast about record figures in terms of trade growth,” said Putin in a bilateral meeting with Raisi.
“We are strengthening our cooperation on international security issues, making a significant contribution to the settlement of the Syrian conflict.”
Raisi also hailed a “significant” commitment to security cooperation between the two countries, saying the two countries had “good experience” in fighting terrorism.
Khamenei hailed mutual cooperation between Russia and Iran as “deeply beneficial.”
“World events show Iran and Russia’s need for increasing mutual cooperation,” he said in a statement.
Khamenei said the expansion of western security alliance NATO had to be “stopped.”
“NATO is a dangerous entity. The West is totally opposed to a strong, independent Russia. If the way is opened for NATO, it will recognize no limits,” Khamenei said.
“If it hadn’t been stopped in Ukraine, it would have later started a similar war in Crimea.”
Putin also held a face-to-face meeting separately with Erdogan in Tehran, and thanked him for efforts to “move forward” a deal on Ukrainian grain exports.
“Not all the issues have been resolved yet, but it’s good that there has been some progress,” Putin added.
Erdogan praised what he described as Russia’s “very, very positive approach” during last week’s grain talks in Istanbul. He voiced hope a deal will be made, and “the result that will emerge will have a positive impact on the whole world.”
Putin also said there were “a lot of questions” on war-torn Syria that needed to be addressed.
He also said that the Nagorno-Karabakh crisis, which is at the center of a territorial dispute between arch foes Armenia and Azerbaijan, was another “important” issue to discuss.
Putin is seeking to bolster ties with Tehran, a fellow target of severe US sanctions and a potential military and trade partner.
Russian officials visited an airfield in central Iran at least twice to review Tehran’s weapons-capable drones for possible use in Ukraine, the White House has alleged.
Iran rolled out a long red carpet for Putin at Tehran’s Mehrabad airport, where Iranian Oil Minister Javad Owji greeted him warmly before he was whisked into his presidential convoy to the city.
The gathering has symbolic meaning for Putin’s domestic audience as well, showing off Russia’s international clout even as it grows increasingly isolated and plunges deeper into confrontation with the West.
National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told CNBC’s “Squawk Box Asia” on Wednesday “I think the Russians would spin the meeting as a demonstration that they’re not actually isolated, they’re still a major player in the Middle East.”
“But I do think, point, it does show a bit of desperation that the Russians are having to go to the Iranians for military support,” he added.
Kirby told reporters at the White House that the trip “shows the degree to which Mr. Putin and Russia are increasingly isolated.”
“Now they have to turn to Iran for help,” he said.
Russia’s press service and information department did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment.
White House said Russian officials have viewed weapons-capable drones in Iran that Moscow may want to acquire for its war in Ukraine.
CIA Director William Burns speaking at the Aspen Security Forum on Wednesday, said Russia’s interest in Iranian drones is a reflection of “the deficiencies of Russia’s defense industry today, the difficulties they’re having after significant losses so far in the war against Ukraine and replenishing their stocks as well.”
“Russians and Iranians need each other right now. Both heavily sanctioned countries, both looking to break out of political isolation as well,” he added.
Burns said the countries want to help each other evade sanctions and show they have options, but there are limits to how much they can cooperate. He said Tehran and Moscow don’t really trust each other because they are energy rivals and historical competitors.
USIP’s Drennan said that the competition over exporting sanctioned energy is a structural issue that is preventing deep Russia-Iran relations.
The two sides are close to signing a strategic cooperation agreement, Russian state news agency Tass reported.
Iran’s Shana news agency reported that the National Iranian Oil Company and Russia’s Gazprom signed a memorandum of understanding worth around $40 billion.
Iran is allies with Qatar and signed a cooperation agreement with China in 2021, but is an adversary to regional power Saudi Arabia and has strained relations with the UAE and Bahrain.
US imposed sanctions on Iran after former President Donald Trump withdrew from the 2015 nuclear deal.
Western countries slapped sanctions on Russia after it invaded Ukraine in February.
According to John Drennan of the U.S. Institute of Peace, Russian President Vladimir Putin likely wanted to show that Moscow is still important in the Middle East by visiting Iran, but instead, the trip shows “a bit of desperation,”
National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said Putin’s Iran trip “shows the degree to which Mr. Putin and Russia are increasingly isolated.”
“Russia turning to Iran for the help speaks volumes about the degree to which both nations, for their actions into different areas of the world, have been increasingly isolated by the international community,” the National Security Council coordinator for strategic communications John Kirby told CNN last week.
Vladimir Putin likely wanted to show that Moscow is still important in the Middle East by visiting Iran, but instead, the trip shows “a bit of desperation,” Drennan said
The goal was to have a discussion with Iran and Turkey’s leaders about the peace process in Syria, said Drennan, who is a senior program officer at the USIP’s Center for Russia and Europe.
Trilateral summit came after an failed talks on Iran nuclear issue whose original signatories include the US, UK, France, China, Russia and Germany.
Robert Malley, the US Special Envoy for Iran, told CNN that the likelihood of reviving the 2015 Iran nuclear deal “diminishes by the day.”
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