TEHRAN – Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan met separately on Friday with Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in Tehran.

The meetings took place after the two presidents attended a trilateral summit on Syria in Tehran with their Iranian counterpart Hassan Rouhani.

In the meeting with Putin, the Leader said cooperation between Iran and Russia in Syria has truly manifested a “leading example” and a “very good experience” of mutual cooperation.

Ayatollah Khamenei said Tehran and Moscow can extend their cooperation globally on other issues as well.

“One of the areas that the two sides can cooperate with each other is containment of America, because America is a danger to humanity,” the Leader suggested, adding there is a “possibility of containing America”.

Ayatollah Khamenei cited the course of developments in Syria as a “successful example” of containing the United States.

The Leader went on to say that it is for 40 years that the U.S. is attempting to “uproot” the Islamic Republic, but during these years Iran has grown powerful “more than 40 times” and this by itself shows a successful example of containing Washington.

For his part, President Putin criticized the U.S. for creating problems in financial trade, saying by creating restrictions in financial exchanges the U.S. is committing a “strategic mistake” because it would undermine trust in the U.S. dollar and weaken it.

Putin also said Europeans just pay lip service to protecting the 2015 nuclear deal, adding in practice they obey the U.S. because they are dependent on Washington.  

Islamic power bloc

During his meeting with the Turkish president, Ayatollah Khamenei said today unity among Muslim states is the most pressing issue.

The Leader said unity and cooperation among Muslim states will “surely help resolve the problems facing the region” and it is due to this reason that the United States is “worried” about the unity among Muslims and formation of an “Islamic power bloc”.

Ayatollah Khamenei also called Iran and Turkey two “decent” and “powerful” countries in the region who seek “common wishes” for the Islamic world.

In view of such shared interests it is necessary to deepen political and economic ties, the Leader remarked.

The Leader also praised Erdogan’s stance toward the sufferings of the Rohingya community in Myanmar. Ayatollah Khamenei also told Erdogan that “the issue of Palestine is important and it must not be forgotten even for a moment.”

For his part, Erdogan said the situation in the region is “critical” and expressed hope that problems facing the regional countries would be solved through cooperation between Islamic states.

The Turkish president also criticized the behavior of the West toward “independent Muslims states”, saying this entails friendship and solidarity among Muslim nations especially between Iran and Turkey.

SP/PA