Tomorrow, Tuesday, Tehran will host a tripartite summit between Iran, Turkey and Russia, which is scheduled to focus on discussing the Syrian file and touching on other files, foremost of which is the Ukrainian war and the revival of the nuclear agreement.

The summit of the three presidents - Putin, Erdogan and Ibrahim Raisi - comes in light of the news that Turkey is about to launch a military operation in northern Syria, and is the first tripartite meeting that brings together the leaders of these countries since 2019 within the framework of the Astana process aimed at ending the war in Syria.

The atmosphere of the summit will also be overshadowed by the files of the Russian war on Ukraine and its repercussions, in addition to the developments of the negotiations on the Iranian nuclear file.

The Russian expert in the Middle East, Vladimir Sotnikov, believes that "the timing of this summit was not determined by chance," noting that while "Russia is carrying out its own operation in Ukraine, Turkey also wants to launch a special operation in Syria," considering that this is "the issue." basic at the top.

Turkey had announced its intention two months ago to launch a military operation in northern Syria in the areas controlled by the so-called Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), whose backbone Kurdish fighters are. Syria.

Turkey and Syrian opposition factions have controlled adjacent border areas in the north since 2016.

Ankara stresses that a strong presence of Kurdish fighters on its border with Syria will strengthen the position of the Kurdistan Workers Party, which it classifies as a terrorist organization. …), because the two targeted areas are under its supervision, and Turkey also wants to be able to use the airspace.”

Ulgen notes that Iran is also present in the area of ​​the planned operation "through armed Shiite groups", which prompts Turkey to seek "the green light" from it as well, as he put it.

It is noteworthy that Moscow had expressed its hope that Ankara would "refrain" from launching the attack, while Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian warned that a similar operation might lead to "destabilizing the security of the region."

Last Friday, the "SDF" urged Moscow and Tehran to prevent Ankara from carrying out its threats, and its leader Mazloum Abdi expressed his confidence that "Russia and Iran will not agree to Turkey's demands," hoping that Syria would not be "the focus of bazaars among the major powers."

Nicholas Heras, a researcher at the New Lines Institute, believes that "Iran and Russia want to prevent another Turkish military operation in northern Syria," noting that Iran "establishes a presence in Aleppo and its surroundings, which worries Turkey, and Russia (...) is retreating in Syria in favor of Iran." .

And intelligence and media reports had recently talked about the possibility of Russia reducing its military presence in Syria due to its preoccupation with Ukraine, and to compensate for this by strengthening the Iranian presence. Russia has intervened since 2015 in Syria and supported the Assad regime, which was facing a military impasse in the face of the Syrian opposition fighters.

The Tehran summit is the first occasion between Erdogan and Putin since the start of the Russian war on Ukraine last February, as Turkey plays the role of mediator between Moscow and Kiev and hosted several rounds of negotiations in Istanbul.

Last Wednesday, Istanbul hosted talks between Moscow and Kiev to break the stalemate in the export of grain from Ukraine, which has caused global food prices to rise, especially in light of the rise in energy prices due to the sanctions imposed by the West on Russia in response to its war on Ukraine.

The tripartite meeting comes days after US President Joe Biden's tour in the Arab region, and the Iranian nuclear file was one of the most prominent files raised in it, as the Russian and Iranian sides are expected to hold in-depth discussions on this file.

Iranian political analyst Ahmad Zaidabadi believes that Moscow "encourages" Tehran to revive the agreement "with a desire to avoid escalation between Iran and the countries of the region, and thus with the West."

Russia is participating in talks that began more than a year ago between Iran and the major powers to revive the Iranian nuclear agreement, which allowed the lifting of international sanctions on Tehran in exchange for restricting its nuclear program.

According to Zaidabadi, Putin and Raisi are expected to discuss "the nature of military cooperation (...), including the purchase of drones."

The White House had recently revealed that Russia intends to acquire Iranian drones for use in Ukraine, and the Kremlin refused to comment on this information, while Iranian Foreign Minister Abdullahian considered these allegations "unfounded."