Putin to meet Iranian president for Middle East crisis talks

The Telegraph: Vladimir Putin will hold an urgent meeting with the Iranian president on Friday over the crisis in the Middle East.

Putin will fly to Turkmenistan for a previously unscheduled appearance at an obscure summit of regional leaders, the Kremlin said.

Aides said he would meet Masoud Pezeshkian to discuss the conflict that has drawn Israel and Iran to the brink of war.

“This meeting is of great importance both for discussing bilateral issues and for discussing the sharply aggravated situation in the Middle East,” said Yuri Ushakov, the Kremlin aide.

Iran and Russia have become close allies since the Kremlin invaded Ukraine in February 2022. Iran has been supplying Russia with missiles and drones since 2022 in return for technical know-how, money and other weapons.

This is the first meeting between the two leaders since Iran fired nearly 200 missiles at Israel last week in response to Israel’s assassination of Hassan Nasrallah, the Hezbollah leader.

Putin and Mr Pezeshkian are also due to meet on the sidelines of the annual summit for the Brics economic group in Kazan, Russia, on Oct 22-24.

Mikhail Mishustin, Russia’s prime minister, visited Iran last week for talks with Mr Pezeshkian and Mohammad Reza Aref, the first vice-president.

Analysts said that the Interconnection of Times and Civilizations: the Basis of Peace and Development Forum was an obscure meeting spot for Putin and Mr Pezeshkian.

“The meeting seems to have been organised at the last minute,” said Nicole Grajewski, a fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

“Iran may want to secure Russian support as it awaits Israeli retaliation for its ballistic missile strikes on Oct 1. It is a strange place to hold a bilateral meeting, and not necessarily a normal forum for the two countries to meet.”

Leaders of Central Asian countries are meeting to commemorate the 300th anniversary of the birth of Magtymguly Pyragy, the 18th-century poet and philosopher.

Considered one of the fathers of Turkmen language literature, his writings were infused with Sufism, a mystical form of Islam, and embryonic feelings for Turkmen nationalism.

Neither are topics that Putin has previously shown an interest in.

Former Soviet Turkmenistan is officially a neutral state that lies on the edge of Central Asia, bordering Iran. Gas production, mainly sold to China, props up its economy. This year it has made moves to sell gas to Europe, via Azerbaijan.