Putin holds talks in Tehran with leaders of Iran, Turkey

TEHRAN: Russian President Vladimir Putin held meetings on Tuesday in Iran, seeking to deepen ties with regional heavyweights as part of Moscow's challenge to the United States and Europe amid its grinding campaign in Ukraine.

In only his second trip abroad since Russian tanks rolled into its neighbor in February, Putin met Iran's President Ebrahim Raisi and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on pressing issues facing the region, including the conflict in Syria and a U.N.-backed proposal to resume exports of Ukrainian grain to ease the global food crisis.

As the West heaps sanctions on Russia and the costly campaign drags on, Putin is seeking to bolster ties with Tehran, a fellow target of severe U.S. sanctions and a potential military and trade partner. 

In recent weeks, Russian officials visited an airfield in central Iran at least twice to review Tehran's weapons-capable drones for possible use in Ukraine, the White House has alleged.

Iran rolled out a long red carpet for Putin at Tehran’s Mehrabad airport, where Iranian Oil Minister Javad Owji greeted him warmly before he was whisked into his presidential convoy to the city.

But perhaps most crucially, the Tehran trip offers Putin a chance for a high-stakes meeting with Erdogan, who has sought to help broker talks on a peaceful settlement of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, as well as help negotiations to unblock Ukrainian grain through the Black Sea.

Speaking to Erdogan at the start of their meeting, Putin thanked him for his mediation to help "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” during last week's grain talks in Istanbul. He voiced hope a deal will be made, and "the result that will emerge will have a positive impact on the whole world.”

The trip to Tehran has symbolic meaning for Putin’s domestic audience as well, showing off Russia’s international clout even as it grows increasingly isolated and plunges deeper into confrontation with the West. 

"Iran is (the) center of dynamic diplomacy,” Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian wrote on Twitter, adding the meetings will "develop economic cooperation, focus on security of the region ... and ensure food security.”

After his arrival, Putin held talks with Raisi that followed meetings in Moscow in January and again last month in Turkmenistan. During his fifth visit to Tehran, Putin also met Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, continuing what Kremlin foreign affairs adviser Yuri Ushakov called a "trusting dialogue.”

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Tehran, Iran, July 19, 2022. (Reuters)

"Our relations are developing at a good pace,” Putin said at the start of the meeting 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 visit will help expand cooperation on regional and international issues.

According to the IRNA news agency, Raisi and Putin discussed boosting ties in energy, transportation and trade.

The focus of later trilateral talks among the presidents will be the decade-old conflict in Syria, where Iran and Russia have backed President Bashar Assad’s government, while Turkey has supported armed opposition factions. Russia intervened in the conflict in 2015, pooling efforts with Iranian forces and using its air power to shore up Assad’s fledgling military.

Iran and Turkey signed preliminary agreements covering investment, diplomacy, media and business, among other fields, and pledged to triple bilateral trade, to $30 billion.

In his speech, Erdogan called for solidarity in the fight against Kurdish militant groups as well as a network led by a U.S.-based Muslim cleric whom Ankara accuses of orchestrating a failed coup in 2016.

Humanitarian issues in Syria have also come into focus since Russia used its veto power at the U.N. Security Council last week to restrict aid deliveries to 4.1 million people in Syria’s rebel-held northwest after six months, instead of a year.

Talks to lift a Russian blockade and get Ukraine’s grain into global markets also are on the agenda. Last week, U.N., Russian, Ukrainian and Turkish officials reached a tentative agreement on some aspects of a deal to ensure the export of 22 million tons of desperately needed grain and other agricultural products trapped in Ukraine’s Black Sea ports by the fighting.

Tuesday’s meeting between Putin and Erdogan could help clear remaining hurdles, a major step toward alleviating a food crisis that has sent prices of vital commodities like wheat and barley soaring.