The White House said the Tehran summit between Putin, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan showed how isolated the Russian leader had become – an observation not shared by Moscow, which claimed it pointed to Russia. remained revered in the Middle East. In a day of intense diplomacy that included bilateral talks followed by a trilateral summit on Syria, Putin praised the Turkish leader for brokering talks to export grain from Ukraine, saying there had been some progress. Russia’s military intervention in Ukraine has blocked shipments from one of the world’s biggest exporters of wheat and other grains, sparking fears of global food shortages. In an attempt to broker a deal that would see the Russian navy lift its blockade of ports such as Odessa, the EU agreed to unfreeze financial resources belonging to seven top Russian lenders if it could be shown that the resources are necessary for the purchase, import or transport of agricultural and food products, including wheat and fertilizers. Since the 1936 Montreux Convention, NATO member Turkey has been responsible for maritime traffic entering the Black Sea. Putin’s meeting with Erdogan was his first meeting with a head of government of a NATO member, and his trip to Tehran was his second outside Russia since the invasion of Ukraine. Erdogan is leading efforts to broker a deal under which grain can leave ports as long as ships are independently inspected for weapons. More than 25 million tons of grain urgently needed in Africa and the Middle East are currently in silos. Map – Black Sea ports are vital for grain exports from Ukraine Putin won the approval of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei for the invasion of Ukraine. Khamenei told Putin: “War is a hard and difficult issue and Iran is not at all happy that ordinary people are suffering from it, but in the case of Ukraine, if you had not taken the initiative, the other side would have provoked the war on its own initiative. “If the road is open to NATO, it knows no borders and if it didn’t stop in Ukraine, they would start the same war a little later under the pretext of Crimea.” He said that Russia and Iran should work together gradually to reduce the strength of the dollar. Putin reiterated Iran’s judgment that it had no choice but to invade, saying: “No one is in favor of war and the loss of ordinary people’s lives is a great tragedy, but the behavior of the West has left us with no choice but to to react. Some European countries said “We were against Ukraine joining NATO, but we agreed under American pressure,” which shows their lack of independence.” Russia and Iran also agreed to sign a long-term memorandum of understanding to collaborate on oil contracts worth more than $40bn (£33bn). Subscribe to First Edition, our free daily newsletter – every morning at 7am. BST However, the atmosphere of cordial agreement displayed by Russia and Iran was not shared by Erdogan when it came to his ambitions to intervene in northern Syria. The Turkish president, potentially taking advantage of Putin’s distractions in Ukraine, is preparing a new military incursion into northern Syria in an attempt to build a safe zone 30 kilometers south of the Turkish-Syrian border. It claims the buffer zone will protect Turkey from attacks by Syrian Kurds led by the US-backed YPG militia, as well as provide space for the voluntary return of up to 1 million Syrian refugees from inside Turkey. Returning refugees would help Erdogan’s re-election chances next year. But Khamenei expressed his general objections to a new Turkish invasion, saying it would certainly be to the detriment of Syria, Turkey and the region. Erdogan, speaking at the start of the tripartite meeting, appeared to assert his unilateral right to invade, saying “it is not possible to expect Turkey to remain inactive and away from this problem.” He argued that a 30km barrier was necessary to deal with hotbeds of terrorism in northern Syria. Turkey considers the YPG indistinguishable from Turkish Kurdish terrorist groups. Erdogan’s next moves will depend on whether he believes he is being given a private green light by Iran and Moscow not to intervene to prevent his planned buffer zone. Russia appears to be working with the Syrian government of President Bashar al-Assad to establish a Syrian military presence in the border region with the tacit support of the YPG.
