Iran and Russia They are old allies and form with Armenia a geostrategic axis in the Caucasus. Indeed, Russia has become a key trading partner, particularly with regard to Iranian oil reserves, in the face of Western economic sanctions against Iran. In the current critical situation in the Middle East, the Kremlin announced this Monday the upcoming meeting between the Russian president, Vladimir Putinand his Iranian counterpart, Massoud Pezeshkian. The meeting will take place next Friday 11, during Putin’s official visit to Turkmenistan.
“This meeting is of great importance both for discussing bilateral issues and for discussing, of course, the dramatic worsening of the situation in the Middle East,” the Russian president’s aide reported on Monday. Yuri Ushakov.
The meeting between Putin and Pezeshkian will take place just four days after the anniversary of Hamas terrorist attacks on October 7, 2023, which left around 1,200 dead and nearly 250 kidnapped. And a week after Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, appeared in public for the first time in five years, holding a Russian-made rifle.
The expansion of ties between Tehran and Moscow comes after the recent visit of Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin to Iran, recalls The Jerusalem Post, which argues in an analysis that “ties between Russia and Iran are strengthening” and that “Iran is trying to leverage its ties with Moscow to encourage Russia to be more hostile toward Israel and adopt a more pro-Iranian in the region.
Let us recall that last Saturday, the Iranian ambassador to Moscow, Kazem Jalali, he told Iranian state media, the agency Irene, that the trip planned by Mishustin was aimed “improve bilateral relations and ensure monitoring of existing agreements between the two parties. Furthermore, the Iranian Minister of Economy, Abdolnaser Hemmatirecently spoke with his Russian counterpart, Maxim Reshetnikov “strengthen economic ties between the two countries”, according to Irna.
Iran and Russia had distant positions during the Russian presidency Dmitry Medvedevbut with the outbreak of the Syrian Civil War in 2011, both became major allies of the Syrian government in the conflict, openly providing armed support.
The terrorist attacks led Israel to launch an offensive against Gaza to wipe out Hamas and its infrastructure in the Gaza Strip. Furthermore, the development of the response to the attacks against Israel has caused the opening of the front on the border between Israel and Lebanon, now the target of an Israeli invasion.
Iran has carried out two drone and missile attacks against Israel in recent months in response to a bombing of its consulate in Damascus, the Syrian capital, and the assassination of senior members of Hamas, the Shiite militia Hezbollah and the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, which has raised fears of the possible outbreak of a full-scale war in the region.
Putin, invited by the Turkmen president, Serdar Berdimuhamedowwill attend an official event in the capital, Ashgabat, which will also be attended by leaders of countries including Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, according to the Russian news agency. TASS.
