But after meeting today with Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei in Tehran, Putin appeared to signal again that Russian Federation remains opposed to removing Assad, which the United States believes is the basic starting point for any political solution to the four-year conflict.
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Iran President Hassan Rouhani, right, shakes hands with Russian President Vladimir Putin prior to attending the Gas Exporting Countries Forum, GECF, summit meeting in Tehran, Iran, Monday, November 23, 2015.
The Spokesman for the Kremlin Dmitry Peskov explained that Putin and Khamenei have both totally rejected “any external attempt to dictate scenarios of political settlements” regarding the strife in Syria.
Both Moscow and Tehran are backing Syria’s “President Bashar al Assad ” http://news.yahoo.com/russias-putin-arrives-tehran-100552859.html in contrast to Western powers, Turkey and Gulf Arab states. The violence has displaced millions more.
“Strikes by Russia’s air group against Islamic State positions and operations by the Syrian government army and the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps have not yet changed the balance of force between the terrorists and Damascus in favor of the legitimate Syrian authorities yet”.
Moscow and Tehran’s strong commitment to deepen the cooperation was staged during the third Gas Exporting Countries Forum held in Iran’s capital city Tehran.
Vladimir Putin met with Iranian leader Ali Khamenei to discuss the United States’ involvement in Syria.
The peace plan put forward by 17 nations a day after the Paris terror attacks sets a January 1 deadline for the start of negotiations between Assad and the opposition.
To that end, Putin formally ordered the resumption of nuclear technology exports to the country, and announced that Russian Federation would help Iran export its enriched uranium out of the country – long considered a possible resolution to the fate of the internationally sanctioned stockpile.
The President of Russian Federation described the Islamic Republic of Iran as an independent and powerful country with bright future horizons, adding: “We consider you as a trustworthy and reliable ally in the region and in the world”. The vote would determine a new parliament, though not necessarily a new president.
Attention is now focused on stopping Islamic State group jihadists, who previous year took control of large parts of Syria and surged into Iraq, from breaching Assad’s defences and taking Damascus.
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This shared goal has seen Iran send commanders from its elite Revolutionary Guards to support and advise Assad s forces, with Tehran coordinating a collection of Shiite militias on the ground.
