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TEHRAN, Iran (AFP) — Iran’s president will host his Russian and Turkish counterparts on Tuesday for talks on the Syrian struggle in a three-way summit overshadowed by fallout from the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
The summit is the primary hosted by Iran’s ultra-conservative President Ebrahim Raisi since he took workplace final yr, and the second journey overseas by Russia’s Vladimir Putin since he ordered the invasion of Ukraine in February.
It comes days after US President Joe Biden visited the Center East for the primary time since taking workplace, with stops in Iran’s regional foes Israel and Saudi Arabia.
However the trilateral summit is ostensibly centered on Syria, as a part of the so-called Astana peace course of to finish greater than 11 years of battle within the Arab nation.
All three are concerned in Syria, with Iran and Russia supporting the regime of President Bashar al-Assad and Turkey backing insurgent forces.
The gathering comes after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan threatened late final yr to launch a brand new offensive in northern Syria in opposition to Kurdish militants.
Iran has already warned that any Turkish army motion in Syria might “destabilize the area”.
The summit may also allow Erdogan to carry his first assembly with Putin since Russia invaded Ukraine in February.
The Turkish president has for months been providing to satisfy the Russian chief in a bid to assist resolve heightened world tensions because the struggle started.
“The timing of this summit just isn’t a coincidence,” Russian analyst Vladimir Sotnikov advised AFP.
“Turkey desires to conduct a ‘particular operation’ in Syria simply as Russia is implementing a ‘particular operation’ in Ukraine,” he mentioned.
Turkey has launched waves of assaults on Syria since 2016, focusing on Kurdish militias in addition to Islamic State group jihadists and forces loyal to Assad.
– ‘Tensions and crises’ –
Putin and Erdogan, who arrived in Tehran on Monday, would meet within the Iranian capital on Tuesday to debate mechanisms to export grain from Ukraine, a Kremlin supply mentioned.
The Russian invasion of Ukraine, which was launched on February 24, has massively hampered shipments from one of many world’s greatest exporters of wheat and different grain, sparking fears of world meals shortages.
Turkey — a NATO member on talking phrases with each Russia and Ukraine — has spearheaded efforts to renew the grain deliveries.
In the end, Erdogan is hoping to get “the inexperienced mild” to from Putin and Raisi for its army operation in Syria, mentioned Sinan Ulgen, a visiting scholar at Carnegie Europe who makes a speciality of Turkish international coverage.
The information that Putin and Erdogan are to satisfy got here on a day which noticed EU international coverage chief Josep Borrell warn Russia’s blockade of Ukrainian ports threatens provides to numerous 1000’s susceptible to hunger.
Borrell dubbed the difficulty “certainly one of life and loss of life for a lot of human beings.”
On Sunday, a day after Biden ended his tour of the Center East, Iran accused america of upsetting crises within the area.
Biden had vowed the US wouldn’t “tolerate efforts by any nation to dominate one other within the area by army buildups, incursions, and/or threats”, in a clear reference to Iran.
In a speech within the Saudi metropolis of Jeddah at a summit of Gulf Arab states in addition to Egypt, Jordan and Iraq, Biden assured the leaders gathered that america would stay absolutely engaged within the Center East.
“We won’t stroll away and depart a vacuum to be crammed by China, Russia or Iran,” Biden mentioned.
Following the assembly, a joint assertion dedicated the leaders to “protect regional safety and stability”.
It additionally underscored diplomatic efforts to stop Iran from growing a nuclear weapon, a aim the Islamic republic has at all times denied searching for.
On Sunday, Iran’s international ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani accused america of getting “as soon as once more resorted to the failed coverage of Iran-phobia, attempting to create tensions and crises within the area”.
The US mentioned final week that Iran plans to ship “a whole bunch of drones” to Russia to assist its struggle on Ukraine, an accusation the Islamic republic dismissed as “baseless”.
© Agence France-Presse
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