US, West Have Become Weaker than Before, Ayatollah Khamenei Tells Putin

Speaking in a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday, the Leader also described the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) as “dangerous”.

Putin arrived in Tehran earlier on Tuesday to take part in a three-way summit with Iranian and Turkish presidents Ebrahim Raisi and Recep Tayyip Erdogan on the Syria peace process.

Ayatollah Khamenei stressed at the meeting, “War is a harsh and difficult reality, and the Islamic Republic will in no way be happy if it entangles ordinary people.

“In the case of Ukraine, however, if you had not taken the initiative, the opposite side would have caused (the outbreak) of war with its own initiative,” the Leader added, addressing the Russian president.

Ayatollah Khamenei stated that Western countries resolutely oppose a strong and independent Russia, adding that if NATO had not been stopped in Ukraine, it would have started the same war using Crimea as a pretext.

The Leader said Iran and Russia must maintain their vigilance in the face of the West’s deceptive policies.

Ayatollah Khamenei also emphasized that economic cooperation between Tehran and Moscow is a necessity and will serve the two sides’ interests, particularly in the wake of the West’s sanctions against them. “Long-term cooperation between Iran and Russia will be deeply beneficial to both countries.”

The Leader said it was paramount that the oil and gas agreements currently in the works between the two energy-rich countries are “followed through to the end and become operational.”

The Leader also stressed the importance of launching Rasht-Astara railway in an effort to complete the North-South Transport Corridor and benefit both countries.

Ayatollah Khamenei voiced support for the policy of replacing the US dollar with national currencies in bilateral trade ties, saying, “The dollar should be gradually removed from global transactions.”

For his part, the Russian president addressed the situation in Ukraine, saying, “No one is in favor of war,” adding, “The loss of ordinary people’s lives is a great tragedy.”

“However, the West’s behavior has left us with no other option than to react,” the Russian head of state said.

Putin considered his country’s rifts with Ukraine to be rooted especially in the provocative measures that have been taken by the West, including the United States, over the past recent years, including the coup in Ukraine, which brought a Western-backed government to power there.

He also cited NATO’s expansion toward Russia’s borders in spite of its earlier promises to avoid such a move to be another source of difference between Moscow and Kiev.

“Some European countries said they were opposed to Ukraine’s membership in NATO, but (eventually) acceded to it under America’s pressure,” Putin said, adding that this indicated the countries’ “lack of sovereignty and independence.”

The Russian statesman considered the US’ assassination of Lieutenant General Qassem Soleimani in early 2020 to be another instance of Washington’s “iniquity.”

Elsewhere in his remarks, Putin said the West’s sanctions against Russia were to its own detriment, causing such problems as rising oil prices and food crises.

He pointed to the United States’ use of dollar towards deployment of sanctions against and plundering of other countries.

The approach would eventually backfire against Washington itself since it undermines the global trust in the currency, and prompt countries to use alternative currencies. “Russia and Iran (for instance) are devising new methods of using their respective national currencies in their relations,” he added.

Putin considered his country and Iran’s position concerning Syria, including their opposition to a military attack against the northern parts, to be completely concordant. “The Eastern Euphrates region should come under the control of Syrian military forces,” he added.

Iran and Russia are fighting a joint fight against terrorism in Syria, the Russian president also noted, adding that in the military sphere too the countries would try to increase their cooperation and also try to increase their cooperation and trilateral military drills with China.