Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei hosted Russian president Vladimir Putin in Tehran on Tuesday, proclaiming a need for more “mutual cooperation” and justifying Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Khamenei called NATO a “dangerous entity” that has “no limits,” and said “if it hadn’t been stopped in Ukraine, it would have later started a similar war in Crimea,” according to a statement on the leader’s website.
Khamenei and Putin also discussed the war in Syria, moving away from the U.S. dollar in global transactions and oil and gas contracts.
The meeting marked Putin’s first trip outside the former Soviet Union since the start of the Russia-Ukraine war, and comes weeks after reports surfaced stating that Russian officials repeatedly traveled to Iran to discuss buying weapons-capable drones.
John Kirby, spokesman for the National Security Council said Tuesday that Putin’s increased dialogues with Iran and North Korea show how “isolated” Russia has become.
Putin also met with Iranian president Ebrahim Raisi on Tuesday ahead of the trilateral Astana-format talk with Turkey. The two leaders discussed the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) — the nuclear agreement with Iran that President Joe Biden has worked to revive throughout his presidency.
Putin voiced support for restoring the nuclear agreement, which Donald Trump backed out of in 2018 due to Tehran’s work on ballistic missiles. Russia has previously connected the JCPOA to its invasion of Ukraine, demanding that any new sanctions on Moscow due to its attack on Ukraine would not prohibit its trade and military cooperation with Iran.
“We consider it important to continue our efforts to preserve the nuclear deal and create conditions for the resumption of its sustainable implementation,” Putin said, according to a statement on his website.
Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Putin also spoke in a bilateral meeting about Russia’s blockade of Ukrainian grain in the Black Sea, which has sparked concerns about global food shortage. It marked the first time Putin met with a leader of a NATO member since the invasion of Ukraine.
Those 50 seconds that Erdogan made Putin wait, looking frazzled in-front of cameras say plenty of how much has changed after Ukraine: pic.twitter.com/giGirqaYYP
— Joyce Karam (@Joyce_Karam) July 19, 2022
Videos circulating online showed Erdoğan making Putin wait before their meeting.