Tuesday, July 19 Russian President Vladimir Putin made a one-day visit to Iran. The trip to Tehran was his second foreign trip after the full-scale military invasion of Ukraine in February. In June he visited Tajikistan and Turkmenistan. The geography of Putin’s foreign visits speaks for itself, White House Spokesman John Kirby. Russia’s international isolation is obvious.
Meanwhile, Moscow does not agree with this. The Kremlin notes that Western attempts to isolate Russia from the rest of the world have failed. And the roads flew to Tehran, because Iran has many years of experience of living under Western sanctions. Press Secretary of the Russian President Dmitry Peskov I’m sure it’s a successful experience.
“Russia and Iran are used to sanctions. Iran has been under various sanctions for more than a decade and has already adapted well to developing and improving the well-being of its people.”he said.
In Tehran, Putin met with Iranian President Ibrahim Raisi Yes Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. In addition, the Russian President received Iranian spiritual leader Ayatollah Khamenei.
Interestingly, their meeting was very reminiscent of Putin himself hosting foreign leaders in recent months. But there was no massive table with gilding. Khamenei sat at a great distance from Putin and Raisi. The room where the negotiations took place was practically empty - no furniture, except for the chairs on which the participants sat.
The Ayatollah fully supported Russia and laid the blame for the war in Ukraine on the NATO countries. “If you hadn’t taken the initiative, the other side would have started a war on their own initiative,” Khamenei said, actually repeating Putin’s arguments word for word.
What issues were discussed in Tehran? Western media are sure that it was about drones that Iran is ready to supply to Russia. These are hundreds of UAVs that can be used as combat ones. Washington warned the Iranian authorities that this would lead to a sharp increase in sanctions against Tehran.
Moscow claims that deliveries of Iranian drones were not on the agenda. The same was stated Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein-Amir Abdollahian. In an interview with the Italian newspaper La Repubblica, he stressed that Tehran is avoiding any actions that could lead to further escalation in Ukraine, including the supply of military equipment. “We have defense agreements with Russia, but we will not help any of the parties involved in this conflict”Abdollahian assured.
Erdogan at the meeting in Tehran was primarily interested in Syria and Ukrainian grain. As you know, Iran and Russia support the regime of Bashar al-Assad in Syria, and Turkey supports the rebel forces. Erdogan said he expected cooperation in the fight against terrorism and threatened to launch a new offensive in northern Syria against Kurdish militants. The operation is part of Ankara’s plan to create a 30-kilometer safe zone along Turkey’s border with Syria. Moscow and Tehran oppose such an operation. It is not yet clear whether an agreement on this issue was reached at the July 19 meeting. The three countries made a very vague joint statement.
The Turkish president wanted to get guarantees from the way of unblocking the Black Sea ports so that the export of Ukrainian grain could be resumed. Turkey, as is known, has become a mediator in the negotiations between Ukraine and Russia on this issue. Putin spoke in his characteristic style: “We are satisfied with the results of the talks in Turkey on July 13. I want to thank you for your mediation efforts. We have made progress, but not all issues have been resolved yet.”
Speaking in a normal language, the Russian leader so far refuses to guarantee the safe export of Ukrainian grain.
Another important issue that worries many countries today is the supply of Russian gas. As FACTS has already reported, on July 11, the work of the Nord Stream pipeline was stopped. Gazprom promised to restore it from 21 July.
Here is what Putin said in Tehran, answering journalists’ questions: “Gas pumping by Nord Stream may be reduced to 1/5 of its capacity.”
This means that Europe will receive no more than 33 million cubic meters of gas per day. Putin said that before the temporary shutdown of both branches of the gas pipeline on July 11, two out of five gas compressor units manufactured by Siemens were in operation. At the same time, about 60 million cubic meters were pumped per day. One turbine did not return from a major overhaul at the Montreal plant for a long time due to sanctions imposed by Canada against Russia.
“If another turbine comes, it’s good. Two will work. If she doesn’t come, she’ll be alone. And there will be only 30 million cubic meters per day,” Putin said. And he immediately added that approximately on July 26, Gazprom would have to stop another turbine for repairs!
“Therefore, even if we launch Nord Stream 2 tomorrow, it will not be 55 billion cubic meters per year, but half. And if we keep in mind that only the second half of the year is left of this year, that means one quarter. This is the supply situation.”Putin said.
According to him, European leaders are to blame for this. “We closed one route, the second route, put these gas pumping units under sanctions. “Gazprom” is ready to pump as much as necessary. Gazprom has always fulfilled, fulfills and intends to fulfill all its obligations. Our partners are trying to translate their own mistakes onto Gazpromthe Russian president stressed.
Against the background of these statements, Gazprom and the National Iranian Oil Company NIOC signed a memorandum of understanding on July 19 and entered into a $40 billion agreement to develop two gas and six oil fields. We are talking about the Kish and North Pars gas fields. In addition, the parties intend to complete previously launched projects for the supply of liquefied natural gas and the construction of export gas pipelines.
Source: Fakty
