TEHRAN – Iranian Defense Minister Mohammad Reza Ashtiyani arrived in the Russian capital to take part in a joint meeting with counterparts from Russia, Turkey, and Syria.

Iran’s official news agency IRNA said the meeting is aimed at normalizing relations between Turkey and Syria. 

Negotiations to normalize relations between Damascus and Ankara first started on December 28, 2022 with the presence of the defense ministers of Russia, Syria and Turkey in Moscow. In this meeting, the parties agreed on the formation of a tripartite joint commission.

Following these negotiations, it was decided that these meetings would be held at the level of foreign ministers, and direct negotiations between Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Bashar Assad, the presidents of Turkey and Syria, would also be on the agenda, Al Alam reported. 

A four-way meeting of the Deputy Foreign Ministers of Syria, Russia, Iran and Turkey regarding the developments in Syria was held in Moscow in early April.

Earlier, Akara announced that the Tuesday meeting would be held at the level of defense ministers and heads of intelligence agencies.

The meeting comes after Moscow hosted the meeting of the deputy foreign ministers of the four countries.

Earlier this month, deputy foreign ministers of Iran, Russia, Syria, and Turkey held a meeting in Moscow to discuss the next meeting of the foreign ministers. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov delivered the opening speech of the meeting, which was held at the headquarters of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The Moscow talks will serve as a prelude to the upcoming meeting between the foreign ministers of the four countries, according to the Turkish Anadolu news agency.

Ali Asghar Khaji, senior advisor to the Iranian foreign minister for special political affairs, who had traveled to Moscow at the head of a delegation to attend the four-way meeting, met separately with the deputy foreign ministers of Russia, Syria, and Turkey.