Enlarge image
Vladimir Putin, Ebrahim Raisi and Turkish President Erdoğan in Tehran
Photo: MUSTAFA KAMACI / AFP
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan does not want to back down from his actions in Syria.
"Our fight against terrorist organizations will always continue, regardless of where or by whom it is supported," Erdoğan said in Tehran on Tuesday at a meeting with Iran's President Ebrahim Raisi and Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin.
He expects Russia and Iran to support Turkey in this.
Turkey has been threatening another military offensive in northern Syria for several weeks, citing "terrorist" threats as the reason.
Ankara already occupies border areas in northern Syria.
Russia and Iran had warned Turkey against another offensive.
Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Tuesday: "Any attack by Turkey in northern Syria would only help the terrorists in Syria".
"We consider security in Syria to be our own security and Turkey should do the same."
The three states had already negotiated on the future of Syria in the past.
Russia and Iran support the ruler Bashar al-Assad, Turkey is allied with the opposition.
The three protecting powers have been organizing talks on the Syrian conflict in the Astana format since 2017.
Putin seeks support for aggressive war - Iran emphasizes neutrality
For the summit in Tehran, Kremlin chief Putin left the post-Soviet space for the first time since the beginning of his war against Ukraine.
He still had to wait on site – for the Turkish president.
He deliberately took his time before stepping in front of the cameras of the world press to shake hands with him.
Putin was obviously in a good mood.
While he recently received top politicians at long tables in Moscow, in Iran there was little distance to be seen at meetings with the supreme religious leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei or President Raisi.
The meeting came shortly after a trip to the region by US President Joe Biden.
Biden only returned over the weekend from the Sunni monarchy of Saudi Arabia - the regional rival of the Shiite republic of Iran.
Officially, Iran is neutral with regard to Putin's war against Ukraine, which began at the end of February.
But the sympathies of the Iranian leadership for Russia are well known.
A statement by a high-ranking US government representative last week also caused a stir.
There are indications that Moscow wants to acquire Iranian combat drones for the war against Ukraine.
Iran immediately denied this and firmly assured Ukraine that the American claims were "baseless."
This was not officially discussed on Tuesday.
dop/dpa