Iran receives Putin and Erdogan for talks that are overshadowed by the Ukraine war

The Iranian president will on Tuesday host his Russian and Turkish counterparts for talks on the Syrian war at a tripartite summit overshadowed by the fallout from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The summit is the first to be hosted by ultra-conservative Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi since he took office last year and the second foreign trip by Russia’s Vladimir Putin since he ordered the invasion of Ukraine in February.

It comes days after US President Joe Biden visited the Middle East for the first time since taking office, with stops at regional enemies Iran, Israel and Saudi Arabia.

But the trilateral summit is reportedly focused on Syria as part of the so-called Astana peace process to end more than 11 years of conflict in the Arab country.

All three are involved in Syria, with Iran and Russia backing President Bashar al-Assad’s regime and Turkey backing the rebels.

The gathering comes after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan threatened to launch a new offensive in northern Syria against Kurdish militants late last year.

Iran has already warned that any Turkish military action in Syria could “destabilize the region”.

The summit will also allow Erdogan to hold his first meeting with Putin since Russia invaded Ukraine in February.

Turkey’s president has been offering to meet the Russian leader for months to help resolve global tensions that have escalated since the war began.

“The timing of this summit is not accidental,” Russian analyst Vladimir Sotnikov told AFP.

“Turkey wants to conduct a ‘special operation’ in Syria in the same way that Russia conducts a ‘special operation’ in Ukraine,” he said.

Turkey has launched waves of attacks on Syria since 2016, targeting Kurdish militias as well as jihadists from the Islamic State group and forces loyal to Assad.

Putin and Erdogan, who arrived in Tehran on Monday, would meet in the Iranian capital on Tuesday to discuss mechanisms for exporting grain from Ukraine, a Kremlin source said.

The Russian invasion of Ukraine, which began on February 24, has severely hampered shipments from one of the world’s largest exporters of wheat and other grains, raising fears of global food shortages.

Turkey – a NATO member in talks with both Russia and Ukraine – has spearheaded efforts to restart grain shipments.

Ultimately, Erdogan hopes to get a “green light” from Putin and Raisi for his military operation in Syria, said Sinan Ulgen, a visiting scholar at Carnegie Europe who specializes in Turkish foreign policy.

The news that Putin and Erdogan will meet came on a day when EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell warned that Russia’s blockade of Ukrainian ports is threatening supplies to untold thousands at risk of starvation.

Borrell called the issue “a matter of life and death for many people”.

On Sunday, a day after Biden finished his tour of the Middle East, Iran accused the United States of provoking crises in the region.

Biden had vowed in a transparent reference to Iran that the US would “not tolerate efforts by any country to dominate any other country in the region through military buildup, incursions and/or threats.”

Speaking in the Saudi city of Jeddah at a summit of the Arab Gulf States, Egypt, Jordan and Iraq, Biden assured the assembled leaders that the United States would remain fully engaged in the Middle East.

“We’re not going to walk away and leave a vacuum for China, Russia or Iran to fill,” Biden said.

After the meeting, the heads of state and government pledged in a joint declaration to “maintain regional security and stability”.

It also underscored diplomatic efforts to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon, a goal the Islamic Republic has always denied.

On Sunday, Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani accused the United States of “once again resorting to failed Iran-phobia policies to create tension and crisis in the region.”

The United States said last week that Iran plans to supply “hundreds of drones” to Russia to support its war against Ukraine, an accusation the Islamic Republic dismissed as “unfounded.”