By NASSER KARIMI and VLADIMIR ISACHENKOV
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin gained staunch assist from Iran on Tuesday for his nation’s navy marketing campaign in Ukraine, with Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei saying the West opposes an “independent and strong” Russia.
Khamenei stated that if Russia hadn’t despatched troops into Ukraine, it might have confronted an assault from NATO later, a press release that echoed Putin’s personal rhetoric and mirrored more and more shut ties between Moscow and Tehran as they each face crippling Western sanctions. NATO allies have bolstered their navy presence in Eastern Europe and offered Ukraine with weapons to assist counter the Russian assault.
In solely his second journey overseas since Russia launched the navy motion in February, Putin conferred with Iranians President Ebrahim Raisi and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on the battle in Syria, and he used the journey to debate a U.N.-backed proposal to renew exports of Ukrainian grain to ease the worldwide meals disaster.
Turkey, a NATO member, has discovered itself reverse Russia in bloody conflicts in Syria and Libya. It has even bought deadly drones that Ukrainian forces have used to assault Russian troops. But Ankara 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.
Speaking to Erdogan as their assembly started, 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 will likely be made, and “the result that will emerge will have a positive impact on the whole world.”
U.N., Russian, Ukrainian and Turkish officers reached a tentative settlement on some features 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 combating. Reaching the settlement would mark a significant step towards assuaging a meals disaster that has despatched costs of important commodities like wheat and barley hovering.
The journey to Tehran has symbolic which means for Putin’s home viewers as properly, 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 international locations 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 declined to pump extra oil past a plan permitted by their power alliance with Moscow.
But all of the international locations — 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 meant to maintain the Iranian foreign money, the rial, from crashing. Without sanctions reduction in sight, Iran’s tactical partnership with Russia has change into one among 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.
In an indication of more and more shut navy cooperation, Russian officers in current weeks visited an airfield in central Iran not less than twice to evaluate Tehran’s weapons-capable drones for potential use in Ukraine, the White House has alleged.
Putin hailed the significance of shut ties between Moscow and Tehran at his conferences with the Iranian leaders.
“Our relations are developing at a good pace,” Putin stated firstly of the assembly with Raisi, including that they two international locations have labored to “strengthen their cooperation on international security and contribute significantly to the Syrian settlement.”
In a closing assertion, he supplied robust assist to Tehran over the deadlocked nuclear deal, calling for its full revival and an entire lifting of sanctions in opposition to Iran to permit a “free development of cooperation in any areas without any discrimination.”
During their trilateral talks, the presidents mentioned 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.
Erdogan centered on Turkey’s motion to push from its borders U.S.-backed Syrian Kurdish fighters, following up on earlier threats of a brand new navy offensive in northern Syria. The deliberate operation is a part of Turkey’s efforts to create a protected zone alongside its border with Syria that might encourage the voluntary return of Syrian refugees.
Erdogan stated Turkey was decided to “drive out the centers of evil” that concentrate on Turkey’s safety.
He stated Ankara expects Russia and Iran “to support Turkey in this fight,” including that the areas of Tel Riifat and Manbij — the place Turkey has stated it deliberate to ship its troops — had changed into a “terror bed.”
“The greatest favor that would be made to the Syrian people would be the complete removal of the separatist terrorist organization from territories that it occupies,” Erdogan stated.
In an obvious reference to Turkey’s considerations, the three presidents stated in a joint assertion that they “rejected all attempts to create new realities on the ground under the pretext of combating terrorism, including illegitimate self-rule initiatives, and expressed their determination to stand against separatist agendas.”
At the identical time, in an earlier, separate assembly with Erdogan, Khamenei sternly warned 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.”
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 support deliveries to 4.1 million individuals in Syria’s rebel-held northwest after six months, as an alternative of a 12 months. Erdogan harassed that six months weren’t sufficient.
Raisi stated all events urged expelling American forces from Syria. Putin notably emphasised that every one areas east of the Euphrates River ought to return to Syrian authorities management.
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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 combating in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
Source: www.bostonherald.com”