Iran has the second largest gas reserves in the world after Russia.
(Photo: Reuters)
Tehran Immediately before the visit of Russian President Vladimir Putin to Tehran, the Russian state-owned company Gazprom signed a cooperation agreement worth around 40 billion dollars with the national Iranian oil company NIOC. As the news agency of the Iranian Oil Ministry announced on Tuesday, the heads of both companies signed a corresponding declaration of intent at an online ceremony.
Accordingly, the NIOC will receive support from Gazprom in the development of two gas and six oil fields. The Russian group will also be involved in the completion of liquid gas projects and the construction of pipelines for gas export.
Iran has the second largest gas reserves in the world after Russia. However, US sanctions have cut off the country from technology and restricted the development of the gas export business.
Should be during Tuesday Putin and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan meet with Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi. At the summit in the Iranian capital, Tehran, official talks are planned to improve the situation in civil war-torn Syria. According to the Kremlin, however, it is about a whole range of international policy issues, including the war in Ukraine.
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The meeting comes shortly after a multi-day trip by US President Joe Biden to the region. Biden returned from Saudi Arabia — Iran’s major regional rival — just over the weekend.
Three countries want to deal with Syria
Raisi has already welcomed Erdogan to the Saadabad palace complex. In an opinion piece, Iranian Foreign Minister Hussein Amirabdollahian described the meeting as an approach to a “neighborhood and regional-oriented policy”. “The summit will not be limited to the Syria issue as the three countries have common interests in the areas of economy, energy and food security, which will be part of the deliberations at the summit,” Amirabdollahian wrote in the Iranaily newspaper.
The three states have negotiated Syria’s future in the past. Russia and Iran support the Syrian government, while Turkey is allied with the opposition. According to dpa information, Syria’s foreign minister is also expected to meet his Iranian counterpart in Tehran on Wednesday.
Ebrahim Raisi, President of Iran, greets Tayyip Erdogan, President of Turkey, during a ceremony at Saadabad Palace.
(Photo: dpa)
After the start of the Ukraine war, experts consider a shift in power among the actors in Syria to be possible. According to this, Iran and Turkey could try to fill a power vacuum left by Moscow. Ankara has been announcing a new offensive against the Kurdish forces in northern Syria for weeks. Russia and Iran recently warned Turkey about military action.
It is Putin’s second officially known trip abroad since Russia invaded Ukraine at the end of February. NATO member Turkey has close ties to both Moscow and Kyiv and most recently acted as a mediator between the two countries in the dispute over grain exports blocked in Ukraine.
>>Read here: Easing in the grain dispute: Why the wheat price will still rise
A statement by a high-ranking US government official last week caused a stir. There are indications that Moscow wants to acquire Iranian combat drones for the war against Ukraine. Apparently, a Russian delegation has already visited an Iranian airport for a demonstration of attackable drones.
The US fears that Russia could use these drones in the Ukraine war.
(Photo: dpa)
Iran immediately denied this and firmly assured Ukraine that the American claims were “baseless”. The Kremlin also said recently that Putin and Raisi would not talk about possible drone deliveries on Tuesday.
Officially, Iran is neutral with regard to Russia’s war against Ukraine, which began at the end of February. But the sympathies of the Iranian leadership for Russia are well known. Iran’s relations with the largest country in the world in terms of area have become ever closer in recent years – especially since 2018, when the USA, under its then President Donald Trump, withdrew from the Vienna nuclear agreement. Due to US sanctions, Iran was also able to obtain military equipment almost exclusively from Russia.
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