Putin has arrived in Tehran, as Russia and Iran develop nearer of their isolation

President Vladimir Putin of Russia arrived in Iran on Tuesday for a uncommon worldwide go to that emphasizes how the 2 nations have gotten extra aligned amid their isolation from Europe and the United States.

Officials in each Russia and Iran have mentioned in latest days that sanctions have pushed them nearer collectively. In an interview with an Iranian broadcaster earlier than Putin’s go to, his spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, evoked the historical past of sixteenth century diplomacy between Russia and Persia to set the scene for what he promised could be a brand new period of friendship between Tehran and Moscow.

“Many of today’s countries didn’t even exist back then,” he mentioned.

Peskov mentioned Iran and Russia may quickly signal a treaty on strategic cooperation, increasing their collaboration in banking and finance, and transferring away from utilizing the greenback to denominate their commerce.

Mohammadrez Pourebrahimi, head of the financial committee within the Iranian parliament, known as growing such measures a precedence for each nations. “Sanctions imposed by the U.S. and Europe on Russia have made it more of a necessity for Iran and Russia to cooperate,” he mentioned on Monday.

The Kremlin is raring to point out the world — and its personal individuals — that it nonetheless has buddies, regardless of the worldwide opprobrium over the warfare in Ukraine. That is giving Iran a brand new alternative to stimulate its sanctions-starved financial system, with Russian companies that had been centered on commerce with the West now racing to seek out new markets and suppliers. A restoration of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal that might relieve sanctions on Iran nonetheless seems to be far off.

“We have the greatest expectations,” Russia’s ambassador to Iran, Levan Dzhagaryan, informed Russian state tv earlier than the go to.

Putin touched down in Tehran at about 5 p.m. native time, based on Russian state media, together with his conferences anticipated to stretch late into the night. It is just his second journey outdoors Russia because the begin of the Ukraine warfare.

He will meet with Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, an honor hinting at how a lot each nations connect to deepening their ties. An Iranian information web site, Fararou, pledged that “the more aggressive the U.S. gets in confronting Iran, the closer we will get to Russia.” A conservative Russian outlet, Tsargrad, proclaimed that the rising alliance represented “a new axis of the good.”

Putin can even meet Tuesday with Iran’s president, Ebrahim Raisi, in addition to together with his Turkish counterpart, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who can even be in Tehran. In a three-way summit, the presidents will talk about Syria, the place Erdogan has been threatening a brand new army incursion into the northeast to flush out Kurdish militiamen whom Turkey considers terrorists. Erdogan says any army motion could be meant to entice refugees from Syria’s civil warfare to return to their house nations.

Khamenei set a cold tone for that summit earlier Tuesday in a separate assembly with Erdogan, showing to reject Turkey’s army plans.

“Terrorism must definitely be confronted, but a military attack on Syria will only benefit the terrorists,” mentioned a message on Khamenei’s Twitter account alongside {a photograph} of him assembly with the Turkish chief.

There was no instant response from Turkey.

Hossein Amirabdollahian, Iran’s international minister, mentioned that along with growing financial ties, Tuesday’s conferences would handle safety points and considerations a couple of scarcity of meals provides. Erdogan, who has shut ties to each Putin and President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine, has emerged as essentially the most lively mediator between the 2 males and is engaged on a deal to permit Ukrainian grain to be exported previous the Russian warships within the Black Sea.

According to U.S. officers, Russia is seeking to Iran to fill its scarcity of battlefield drones in Ukraine. Peskov has declined to say whether or not Russia has any plans to buy Iranian drones, and he has mentioned Putin wouldn’t be discussing the problem Tuesday.