Putin to discuss oil, Syrian war in Tehran

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region (Kurdistan24) – Russian President Vladimir Putin is expected to travel to Tehran on Wednesday and meet with his Iranian counterpart Hassan Rouhani and Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

The heads of both states are expected to discuss oil and gas cooperation as well as the Syrian crisis.

“Syria-related issues will be on the agenda of the Russian-Iranian bilateral talks,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said during a conference call with reporters without providing further details.

Putin is expected to hold trilateral talks with Ilham Aliyev, the President of Azerbaijan, in Tehran as well, Peskov said.

Iran and Russia have strengthened their political and diplomatic relationship with joint operations in Syria. Both countries, battling Syrian rebels, are allies of President Bashar al-Assad.

Ellie Geranmayeh, an expert on Iranian foreign policy, said Iran and Russia’s relationship had evolved since the beginning of military operations in Syria.

“Since the Russians got more heavily involved in Syria, the relationship between Moscow and Tehran has entered a new phase,” Geranmayeh explained.

In 2015, Russia played a significant role in a nuclear deal which removed economic sanctions against Iran.

In August 2016, Russian warplanes used the Nojeh air base in northwestern Iran to target armed groups in Syria.

Since the Syrian civil war outbreak, the indecisive approach of the Obama administration toward the crisis led to Russia’s waning influence and credibility in the region.

Various red lines such as the use of chemical weapons by Assad were crossed without action, and former US President Barack Obama hesitated to empower Syrian rebels, especially as the distinction between moderates and Islamists among fragmented rebels became murky.

Michael A. Reynolds, a Senior Fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute, told Kurdistan 24 US President Donald Trump was “quite critical of Obama’s half-hearted attempt to intervene in Syria, and particularly of Obama’s muddled and incompetent efforts to aid the armed opposition in Syria.”

“Whereas Clinton wished to double-down on intervention, Trump did not see how such recklessness would serve American interests,” Reynolds added.

While the US hesitated, Russia took center stage diplomatically and shaped the military picture on the ground in Syria.

Editing by Karzan Sulaivany

(Bashdar Ismaeel contributed to this report)