In the framework of the so-called Astana peace process for the resolution of the Syrian conflict, the autocrats of Russia, Iran and Turkey have met in Tehran to strengthen ties and discuss issues such as the Iranian nuclear program, the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the Turkish intervention in Syria.
This is their second meeting this month; in the previous one, held by videoconference a week ago, they discussed unblocking trade in raw materials, with special attention to grain from Ukraine and exported through the Black Sea.
On this occasion, the National Iranian Oil Company and Russia's Gazprom have announced the signing of an agreement to secure mutual supplies worth 40 billion dollars. In this way they are trying to protect themselves from the sanctions imposed on their countries by the US.
Vladimir Putin has come to Iran with a clear objective: to strengthen a common front vis-à-vis the West and to reinforce its commercial positions in the energy field.
This meeting in Tehran was an opportunity for Putin and Turkey's Islamist warlord Recep Tayyip Erdogan to meet for the first time since Russia's invasion of Ukraine last February.
This summit between three of the regimes that most concern the US comes after Joe Biden's tour of the Middle East to rebuild relations with sensitive US allies such as Saudi Arabia. On the other hand, the White House suspects that Tehran cooperated with Moscow in the invasion of Ukraine.
