Putin travels to Iran, forging deeper ties between U.S. adversaries

Vladimir Putin and Javad Owji
(Image credit: Photo by Contributor/Getty Images)

Russian President Vladimir Putin made a rare international trip to Tehran on Tuesday for a three-way summit with Iranian and Turkish leaders.

Putin arrived at around 5:00 p.m. local time and has meetings scheduled late into the evening. This is his first trip outside the former Soviet Union since the war with Ukraine began in February. Putin visited the former Soviet states of Tajikistan and Turkmenistan last month.

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President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will join Putin and Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi to discuss the situation in Syria as he plans a new military incursion into the unstable country. All three nations have intervened in Syria's ongoing civil war.

Russia, Iran, and Turkey — formerly the Ottoman Empire — have a long history as regional rivals, fighting at least two dozen wars between the 16th and 20th centuries. "Many of today's countries didn't even exist back then," Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov said.

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Grayson Quay

Grayson Quay was the weekend editor at TheWeek.com. His writing has also been published in National Review, the Pittsburgh Post-GazetteModern AgeThe American ConservativeThe Spectator World, and other outlets. Grayson earned his M.A. from Georgetown University in 2019.