"Not only the Syrian question brought the leaders of Russia, Turkey and Iran to the negotiating table in Tehran. Our countries have found themselves in one boat amid the pressure exerted by the US in its economic war," Afife Abedi, a member of the research group specializing on the Eurasian region at the Scientific Center for Strategic Studies for Advisability of the Islamic Republic of Iran, told Sputnik Persian.
Political analyst specializing in Iranian-Arab relations and former editor-in-chief of the Iranian news agency Mehr News, Hassan Hanizadeh, echoes Abedi: citing a series of unilateral sanctions and tariffs imposed by the White House on Russia, Iran and Turkey, he suggested that the three countries need to boost economic integration and work out a joint strategy to counter the Trump administration's political and trade offensive.
He presumed that this economic strategy could be based on "a complete rejection of the dollar in the trade of these countries and the choice of an alternative currency."
Earlier, Moscow signaled its willingness to conduct trade in national currencies in wake of Washington's political pressure on Iran and attacks on the Turkish lira.
The meeting between the presidents of Russia, Turkey and Iran took place on September 7 in Tehran.
The Tehran summit has become yet another milestone in a series of trilateral meetings kicked off by Moscow, Ankara and Tehran in December 2016 and aimed at creating a political platform for peaceful resolution of the Syrian crisis.
"The events of the past 2-3 years have demonstrated the huge potential of the Turkey-Iran-Russia alliance on the Syrian and regional front against their Western opponents," Abedi said, adding that despite some disagreements, the parties need to maintain the alliance.
Both Hanizadeh and Abedi outlined the significance of the September meeting for the future of Idlib, the last terrorist foothold in the region and Syria in general.
"Now Syria is undergoing a special phase [of the war]: Syrian government forces are aimed at conducting a decisive operation to eliminate terrorist formations in Syria's strategic region, Idlib Province," Hanizadeh stressed. "At the same time, the US, some Western countries and their regional allies are doing their utmost to prevent this, wishing that the city of Idlib remains a bulwark of terrorist groups."
Earlier, US President Donald Trump tweeted a warning to Syria and its allies, urging them not to attack the province.
"President Bashar al-Assad of Syria must not recklessly attack Idlib Province. The Russians and Iranians would be making a grave humanitarian mistake to take part in this potential human tragedy. Hundreds of thousands of people could be killed. Don't let that happen!" he claimed.
However, during the Tehran meeting Russian President Vladimir Putin has yet again emphasized the necessity to expel terrorists from the region to open the door to the political process in Syria. At the same time Putin stressed that "there is a large number of civilians in the Idlib zone, and we certainly need to bear this in mind [when fighting terrorists]."
Merkel noted that it was necessary to "make attempts" to fight radical jihadists, adding that "at the same time" one should "protect civilians, which will be a very big, important task."
For his part, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who had previously agreed with his Turkish counterpart that the Idlib operation would be unacceptable, admitted that Washington shared Moscow's concerns regarding the presence of terrorists in the province of Idlib.
"We share their concern about terrorism emanating from northern, northwest Syria. We absolutely agree with them there are terrorists in those locations and they need to be taken care of such that they don't export terror around the world," Pompeo said on September 4.
The views and opinions expressed by the speakers do not necessarily reflect those of Sputnik.
