How Russia found a ‘keen’ ally in Iran?
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Roshan Amiri
- . July 23, 2022
- . Update: July 23, 2022 8:07 pm
Iran–Russia’s President Vladimir Putin has viewed the recent summit in Tehran with Iran and Turkey as an opportunity to exhibit his influence globally and flaunt his powerful allies.
“The Syrian crisis can only be resolved by political and diplomatic means… by strictly adhering to the basic principles of the respect of sovereignty, independence, unity and territorial integrity.” Such was the changed tone of Putin as he talked about Syria in Tehran. He is the same Putin who launched invasion in Ukraine five months ago, while definitely not respecting Ukraine’s territorial integrity, unity, sovereignty and independence.
Clearly, Putin manipulated his presentation and his speech to lure in more allies. But why this changed stand about “respecting a country’s boundaries”? It’s because of who is sitting in Syria’s presidential palace. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is a pro-Russian leader who enjoys Putin’s undisputed support. Russian military is hence at Assad’s disposal to help him regain the lost territory. At the other hand, Ukraine has a pro-Western leadership and is seeking NATO and EU membership. The Ukraine invasion thus began at a false pretext of fighting pro-Nazis.
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While the world criticism followed Ukraine invasion challenging Russia’s influence globally, the Tehran summit brought an opportunity to Kremlin to showcase his continuing influence and strong allies. Once such ally was found in Tehran, that can go publicly supporting Russia’s “special military operation” in Ukraine.
“In the case of Ukraine, had you not taken the initiative, the other side would have taken the initiative and caused the war,” Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei reportedly told President Putin, adding: “NATO would know no bounds if the way was open to it. And if it was not stopped in Ukraine, it would start the same war some time later using Crimea as a pretext.”
But Washington remains unimpressed with the way Russia “had to” find an ally in Tehran. “[The trip] shows the degree to which Mr Putin and Russia are increasingly isolated. Now, they have to turn to Iran for help,” said John Kirby, the White House’s chief National Security Council spokesman.
