Russia’s Putin in Iran for talks focusing on Syria

Putin reportedly made a gift of a rare handwritten Quran to Iran’s leader. A portrait of the late Iranian revolutionary founder Ayatollah Khomeini hangs on the wall.

The focus on Islamic State has intensified since a Russian airliner was brought down by a bomb over Egypt’s Sinai peninsula with the loss of over 200 lives.

Putin announced Monday that Russian Federation would resume exporting nuclear technology to Iran.

Putin also presented Khamenei with a copy of the Quran, Islam’s holy book, according to the supreme leader’s website.

Putin also addressed a natural gas export summit in Tehran – both Russian Federation and Iran are large gas exporters.

The news agency Interfax cited a Kremlin spokesperson on Monday as saying that Putin and Iran’s Khamenei agreed political decisions should not be imposed on Syria from outside.

“The Syrian president has gained in a general election the majority of the votes [cast] by the Syrian people with different political, religious and ethnic views, and the USA has no right to overlook this vote and the choice of the Syrian people”, he said.

“This [issue] should be decided only by the Syrian people”, Putin said. The two countries estimate that the USA and its allies aim at realizing their “regime change” agenda in Syria through diplomatic means after having failed to achieve the objective through military means during the four-year war.

On Monday, Syrian state media and a monitoring group said government troops backed by Russian airstrikes captured areas from the Islamic State in west-central Homs province, according to the Associated Press. Putin’s trip also comes on the heels of agreement on an incomplete peace plan that calls for talks between Syrian President Bashar Assad and his foes.

Iran and Russian Federation have become increasingly allied in Syria providing support that has propped up Assad’s government and forces since an uprising erupted in 2011.

Khemenei – who held a two-hour meeting with Russia’s President Vladimir here – welcomed further expansion of “bilateral, regional and international” cooperation between Tehran and Moscow.

One of the sticking points in the talks now taking place is the fate of Assad.

“Since the Islamic Revolution (in 1979), Iran and Syria have always stood by and helped each other to reach their common goals”, Velayati said in a meeting with a group of Syrian medical, cultural and social experts in Tehran on Thursday.

Russia has stepped up air strikes against Islamist militants in Syria with long-range bombers and cruise missiles after the Kremlin said it wanted retribution for those responsible for blowing up a Russian airliner over Egypt. To clarify the timeline, the State Department said last week that the clock starts once Assad’s representatives and opposition figures begin talks on a constitution.