Relations between Russia and Iran have become ever closer in recent years.
(Photo: AP)
Moscow, Tehran Russian President Vladimir Putin plans to travel to Iran next Tuesday (July 19) for political talks. In addition to Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, he also wants to meet Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan there, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Tuesday, according to the Interfax agency. Talks between the three presidents are planned to improve the situation in the civil war country Syria, said Peskow.
It is one of Putin’s first known trips abroad since the start of the war he ordered against Ukraine around four and a half months ago. Two weeks ago, the Kremlin chief had already flown to the allied Central Asian states of Tajikistan and Turkmenistan. With reference to the corona pandemic, Putin has only taken part in many appointments in online format in recent months.
But Putin’s trip to Iran is the focus of attention for another reason: the United States only announced on Monday that they had indications that Iran wanted to support Russia in the fight against Ukraine. “Our information shows that the Iranian government is preparing to rapidly deploy several hundred unmanned aerial vehicles, including those capable of carrying weapons,” said US President Joe Biden’s National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan.
Iran will also train Russians to use these aircraft, often described as drones, Sullivan said. According to US findings, such training could begin as early as mid-July. However, it is unclear whether such weapons have already been delivered. Sullivan interpreted the information as an indication that Russia’s progress in the war in eastern Ukraine had had a noticeable impact on its own weapons stocks.
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Iran has denied Sullivan’s statements. “Our position on the Ukraine conflict is well known,” said foreign ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani. Tehran understands the Russian reaction to NATO’s eastward expansion, but is at the same time in favor of a diplomatic and opposed to a military solution to the crisis. There is cooperation between Russia and Iran on a technological level, but it began long before the Ukraine war.
Iran’s relations with Russia have become ever closer in recent years
Officially, Iran is neutral with regard to Putin’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.
>>Read also: The World After: How the Ukraine War Redistributed Power and Wealth
There is no official information in Tehran about a possible planned delivery of Iranian drones for Russia’s fight against Ukraine. Political circles do not see Moscow – and Putin in particular – as a reliable partner. At the same time, observers believe that the Iranian government’s international isolation means it has little choice but to stick with Putin.
The Kremlin said Putin would also have a bilateral meeting with Erdogan in Tehran. 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.
Turkey has condemned the Russian attack but has not imposed any sanctions – apart from blocking its airspace to military and civilian aircraft bringing soldiers from Russia to Syria. At the same time, Ukraine is using Turkish Bayraktar drones in the fight against the Russian attackers.
In Syria, on the other hand, after the start of the Ukraine war, experts believe that a shift in power among the actors is possible. According to this, Iran and Turkey could try to fill a power vacuum left by Moscow. Ankara has been announcing a new offensive in northern Syria for weeks, where it already occupies regions. Russia and Iran support the Syrian government, while Turkey is allied with the opposition. The three protecting powers have been organizing talks on the Syrian conflict in the Astana format since 2017.
More: Read the latest developments in the Ukraine war in our news blog.