Putin in Iran pushes for political settlement in Syria

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‍Russian President Vladimir Putin met Iran's leadership on Wednesday, with the two Damascus allies pushing a peace deal on Syria and looking to boost business despite US opposition to a landmark nuclear deal.

Putin’s first visit to Iran since 2015 comes as Moscow seeks to turn its game-changing military intervention in Syria into a concerted push to bring a halt to fighting in the country with the help of Tehran, President Bashar al Assad's other key backer.

"We are working very productively with Iran and we manage to coordinate our positions on Syria," Putin said after talks with Iranian counterpart Hassan Rouhani and the Islamic republic's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

The Russian leader insisted that thanks to a joint push with rebel supporter Turkey, "the situation on the ground in the fight against terrorism and the negotiating process are developing very positively".

Khamenei said the "good cooperation between Tehran and Moscow in Syria shows that the two countries can realize their objectives even in difficult terrain", and insisted that all solutions to the conflict come "from inside the country".

Rouhani stressed that Iran and Russia have worked together to bring stability, security to Syria and fight terrorism there. “We have worked with Russia and Turkey to ensure a continuation of the Astana multiparty talks [on Syria] and this has been very important. In our discussions today we have again emphasized the need for joint efforts to bring about regional stability, to fight drug trafficking and to combat organized crime networks. We want to work closer together and to make use of our combined resources in all areas."

Moscow, Ankara, Tehran plan Syria 'congress'

On Tuesday, Russia, Iran and Turkey pledged after the latest round of negotiations in Kazakhstan to bring the Syrian regime and its opponents together for a "congress" to push peace efforts in the Russian city of Sochi on November 18.

The three key players have organized a series of peace talks in the Kazakh capital Astana this year, agreeing on the establishment of "de-escalation" zones in various parts of the war-torn country.

A joint statement released by Russia and Iran, who support the regime, and Turkey, which backs the rebels, referred to an "initiative of Russia" to put Syrian government representatives and opposition groups face-to-face.

A statement on the Russian foreign ministry website on Tuesday listed 33 Syrian organizations invited to the Sochi event named "Congress of Syrian National Dialogue", slated for November 18.

Armed fighters of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) by a military vehicle in Raqqa, Syria, on October 16, 2017. /Reuters Photo

The proposal was one of the few notable outcomes from the seventh round of talks on Syria held in the Kazakh capital Astana, which are widely viewed as Moscow's attempt to stamp its imprint on a settlement for Syria.

Russia's chief negotiator for Syria, Aleksandr Lavrentyev, urged opposition factions to "participate and present their positions" in the meeting that he said would touch on constitutional reform.

But Lavrentyev could not confirm that the United Nations and its Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura would take part in the Sochi meeting, despite continuing negotiations. "We want to emphasize that this event should be part of the international community's efforts to find effective mechanisms for political settlement," Lavrentyev said.

Spearheading the peace push

The military might of Moscow and Tehran in Syria has helped prop up Assad's forces and turn the protracted conflict in his favor with a string of key battlefield victories.

Since the start of the year, Russia has looked to cement the gains from its intervention by spearheading the peace push at talks in Kazakhstan, positioning itself as a broker between key players Iran and Turkey and largely bypassing the West.

Up until now the focus has been on quelling the violence on the ground and the three powers have established four "de-escalation zones" around rebel-held territory in the country.

The zones were initially credited for bringing about a significant reduction in bloodshed, but international aid groups say they are currently failing to curb the fighting.

Now Moscow seems keen on expanding its peace drive in search of a political settlement.

The push on Syria comes as ties between both countries and Washington have frayed still further since Donald Trump moved into the White House in January.

Despite initial opposition, President Trump in August signed off on a sanctions bill targeting Russia, Iran and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) after it was passed overwhelmingly by Congress.

Putin's arrival came a day after the US Treasury added 40 Iranian individuals and entities already targeted by sanctions to a counter-terrorism blacklist.

Trilateral summit backs nuclear deal

From left: Russian President Vladimir Putin with his Iranian and Azerbaijani counterparts Hassan Rouhani and Ilham Aliyev pose for a photo‍ during a meeting in Tehran, Iran, on November 1, 2017. /Sputnik Photo via Reuters

Putin's Iran visit - which also involved a three-way summit with Rouhani and the leader of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev - also followed a hike in tensions over the 2015 Iran nuclear deal after US President Trump refused to certify the agreement last month.

In a joint statement, Russia, Iran and Azerbaijan on Thursday said all parties to Iran nuclear deal should adhere to their commitments.

Tehran signed the deal, which saw sanctions lifted in return for limits on Tehran's atomic program, with six countries including Russia and the United States, and Moscow has slammed Trump's "aggressive and threatening rhetoric" against Iran.

Putin on Wednesday strongly backed Iran and its nuclear deal with world powers, saying Moscow opposed "any unilateral change" to the accord.

The trilateral summit has also put a spotlight on the regional issues in the Middle East as well as the Caspian Sea.

Putin's visit comes at a time when there's a perceptible decline in the US influence in the energy-rich regions, while other powers, including Russia, China and India, are increasingly making significant inroads giving a multi-polar character to regional politics and economic affairs.

Russian firms eye major projects

Meanwhile, Russian companies looked to press on with taking advantage of the business opportunities that it has presented.

Moscow and Tehran are eyeing cooperation in over 10 oil and gas fields in Iran, a top official from the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) said last week, just days ahead of Putin's visit.

State oil giant Rosneft and the National Iranian Oil Company signed a roadmap agreement with an eye to developing joint projects worth up to 30 billion US dollars, Rosneft head Igor Sechin was quoting as saying by Russian news agencies.

Sechin said the two sides were looking to seal binding deals within a year to work on a "whole series of fields, oil and gas", and that eventual output could total 55 million tonnes of oil a year.

The potentially mammoth deal would boost Rosneft's push in the Middle East and aid the Kremlin's ambitions of bolstering its influence in Iran and the broader region.

Moscow and Tehran have had close political and economic relations, and in the nuclear field Russia has already built one reactor at Iran's Bushehr plant and just started work on two new ones.

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Source(s): AFP ,Reuters