Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke with Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in Iran on Tuesday, the Kremlin leader’s first trip outside the former Soviet Union since the February 24 invasion of Ukraine.
In Tehran, Putin also held his first face-to-face meeting since the invasion with a North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) leader, Turkish Tayyip Erdogan, to discuss a deal that would resume Black Sea grain exports from Ukraine, as well as the conflict in northern Syria.
Putin’s trip, just days after US President Joe Biden visited Israel and Saudi Arabia, sends a strong message to the West about Moscow’s plans to strengthen strategic ties with Iran, China and India in the face of western sanctions.
Khamenei called for long-term cooperation between Iran and Russia, telling Putin the two countries needed to be on guard against “Western deception”, Iranian state TV reported.
He said Putin had ensured that Russia would “maintain its independence” from the United States and that countries should start using their own national currencies when trading goods.
“The US dollar must be gradually withdrawn from global trade, and that can be done gradually,” Khamenei said during the meeting, in a Spartan white room with an Iranian flag and a portrait of the late revolutionary leader Ayatollah Khomeini.
Despite the suffering experienced by ordinary people in the war, Khamenei said Moscow had little alternative in Ukraine. “If you hadn’t taken the initiative, the other side (West) would have caused a war of its own accord,” he told Putin.
Washington said Putin’s trip to Tehran showed how isolated Russia had become in the wake of its invasion of Ukraine.
Under sanctions
For Iran, too, come undone by Western economic sanctions and negotiations with the United States over Tehran’s nuclear program and a host of other issues, Putin’s visit is timely.
The Islamic Republic’s clerical leaders are keen to strengthen strategic relations with Russia against an emerging US-backed Arab-Israeli Gulf bloc that could shift the Middle East balance of power further away from Iran.
Emboldened by high oil prices since the Ukraine war, Iran is betting that, with Russia’s support, it could pressure Washington to offer concessions to revive its 2015 nuclear deal with world powers.
However, Russia’s increasing leaning towards Beijing in recent months has significantly reduced Iranian crude oil exports to China — a key source of income for Tehran since then the US. President Donald Trump reimposed sanctions in 2018.
In May, Reuters reported that Iran’s crude oil exports to China had fallen sharply as Beijing favored heavily discounted Russian barrels, leaving nearly 40 million barrels of Iranian crude stored on tankers offshore Asia and looking for buyers.
Prior to Putin’s arrival, the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) and Russian gas producer Gazprom GAZP Mmm signed a memorandum of understanding worth about US$40 billion.
Syria and Ukraine
Putin, Erdogan and Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi have also weighed efforts to reduce violence in Syria, where Turkey has threatened to launch more military operations to extend 30km deep “safe zones” along the border. Moscow and Tehran oppose any action by Turkey.
“Maintaining Syria’s territorial integrity is very important, and any military strike in northern Syria will definitely harm Turkey, Syria and the entire region, and benefit terrorists,” Khamenei told Erdogan ahead of the three-way meeting.
Russia and Iran are the strongest supporters of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, while Turkey supports anti-Assad insurgents.
Any Turkish operation in Syria would attack the Kurdish YPG militia, a key part of the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which controls much of northern Syria and is seen by Washington as a key ally against Islamic State militants.
“It is impossible to expect Turkey to remain dormant, unresponsive, as this terrorist organization continues its separatist agenda,” Erdogan said, referring to the YPG.
“I hear from you, my dear friends, that you understand Turkey’s legitimate security concerns. I am grateful for that, but words alone are not a cure for wounds.”
Speaking at the end of the talks, Putin said the three presidents had agreed to continue the consultation on Syria and were committed to continuing efforts to “normalize” the situation there after a decade of conflict.
Putin, who turns 70 this year, has made few trips abroad in recent years due to the Covid-19 pandemic and later the Ukraine crisis. His last trip beyond the former Soviet Union was to China in February.
Russia, Ukraine, Turkey and the United Nations are expected to sign an agreement later this week aimed at resuming the transport of grain from Ukraine across the Black Sea.
“With your mediation, we move forward,” Putin told Erdogan after the bilateral meeting. “Not all issues have been resolved yet, but the fact that there is movement is already good.”
*Additional reporting by Orhan Coskun and Tuvan Gumrukcu in Ankara; Written by Guy Faulconbridge, Parisa Hafezi and Dominic Evans; Editing by Mark Heinrich and Rosalba O’Brien
Source: CNN Brasil
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