By NASSER KARIMI and VLADIMIR ISACHENKOV
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin held conferences Tuesday in Iran, in search of to deepen ties with regional heavyweights as a part of Moscow’s problem 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 met Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on urgent points dealing with the area, together with the battle in Syria and a U.N.-backed proposal to renew exports of Ukrainian grain to ease the worldwide meals disaster.
As the West heaps sanctions on Russia and the pricey marketing campaign drags on, Putin is in search of to bolster ties with Tehran, a fellow goal of extreme U.S. sanctions and a possible navy and commerce associate. In latest weeks, Russian officers visited an airfield in central Iran no less than twice to assessment Tehran’s weapons-capable drones for doable use in Ukraine, the White House has alleged.
Iran rolled out a protracted purple carpet for Putin at Tehran’s Mehrabad airport, the place Iranian Oil Minister Javad Owji greeted him warmly earlier than he was whisked into his presidential convoy to town.
But maybe most crucially, the Tehran journey affords 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 Syria and Libya. It has even offered deadly drones that Ukrainian forces have used to assault Russian troops. 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 forex, Turkey additionally depends on the Russian market.
Speaking to Erdogan at the beginning of their assembly, Putin thanked him for his mediation to assist “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” throughout final week’s grain talks in Istanbul. He voiced hope a deal might be made, and “the result that will emerge will have a positive impact on the whole world.”
The journey to Tehran has symbolic which means for Putin’s home viewers as effectively, 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 U.S. President Joe Biden’s visited Israel and Saudi Arabia — Tehran’s main rivals.
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 troublesome 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 declined to pump extra oil past a plan authorised by their power 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 U.S. President Donald Trump deserted Tehran’s atomic accord with world powers and reimposed crushing sanctions. Talks to revive the deal have hit a impasse.
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 supposed to maintain the Iranian forex, the rial, from crashing. Without sanctions reduction in sight, Iran’s tactical partnership with Russia has turn 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 … 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 a long time of animosity stemming from Russia’s occupation of Iran throughout World War II — and its refusal to depart afterward.
After his arrival, Putin held talks with Raisi that adopted conferences in Moscow in January and once more final month in Turkmenistan. During his fifth go to to Tehran, Putin additionally met Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, persevering with what Kremlin international affairs adviser Yuri Ushakov known as a “trusting dialogue.”
“Our relations are developing at a good pace,” Putin mentioned at the beginning of the assembly with Raisi, noting that Moscow and Tehran “strengthen their cooperation on international security and contribute significantly to the Syrian settlement.”
Raisi voiced hope that Putin’s go to will assist develop cooperation on regional and worldwide points.
According to the IRNA information company, Raisi and Putin mentioned boosting ties in power, transportation and commerce.
The focus of later trilateral talks among the many 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 Iranian forces and utilizing its air energy to shore up Assad’s fledgling navy.
Ushakov mentioned the events will focus on efforts to encourage a political settlement, whereas Erdogan is anticipated to take up Turkey’s threats of a brand new navy 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 secure zone alongside its border with Syria that might 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 mentioned, stressing the necessity to “bring the issue to an end through talks.”
Iran and Turkey signed preliminary agreements masking funding, diplomacy, media and enterprise, amongst different fields, and pledged to triple bilateral commerce, to $30 billion.
In his speech, Erdogan known as for solidarity within the battle in opposition to Kurdish militant teams in addition to a community led by a U.S.-based Muslim cleric whom Ankara accuses of orchestrating a failed coup in 2016.
“They are nuisances that disrupt the calm of the countries where they are present,” he mentioned. “We need to continue to lead a struggle against them.”
Humanitarian points in Syria have additionally come into focus since Russia used its veto energy on the U.N. Security Council final week to limit assist deliveries to 4.1 million individuals in Syria’s rebel-held northwest after six months, as a substitute of a yr.
Talks to raise a Russian blockade and get Ukraine’s grain into international markets are also on the agenda. Last week, U.N., Russian, Ukrainian and Turkish officers reached a tentative settlement on some points of a deal to make sure the export of twenty-two million tons of desperately wanted grain and different agricultural merchandise trapped in Ukraine’s Black Sea ports by the preventing.
Tuesday’s assembly between Putin and Erdogan might assist clear remaining hurdles, a significant step towards assuaging a meals disaster that has despatched costs of important commodities like wheat and barley hovering.
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Isachenkov reported from Moscow. Associated Press writers Isabel DeBre in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and Suzan Fraser in Ankara, Turkey, contributed.
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Follow AP’s protection of preventing in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
Source: www.bostonherald.com”