Russian President Vladimir Putin said Tuesday that Russia, Iran and Turkey are committed to continuing efforts to return the situation in Syria to "normal. "

After his meeting with the leaders of Turkey and Iran in Tehran, Putin added that the three countries agreed to continue consultations on Syria.
Putin said Russia and Iran discussed the use of national currencies in bilateral settlements. 

Earlier on Tuesday, the Russian President spoke from Tehran of progress in talks on the export of Ukrainian grain through the Black Sea and also thanked his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan during a meeting in Tehran.

"Thanks to your mediation, we have made progress. Not all issues have been resolved yet, this is true, but there is movement, and this is good," Putin said, addressing Erdogan in comments cited by the Kremlin in a statement.

Russian President Vladimir Putin stressed the need to create the necessary conditions to enable the Syrians to decide the fate of their country, independent of any external interference.

"We consider it one of the tasks of the near future to agree on specific steps to promote a comprehensive internal Syrian political dialogue, that is, to implement our agreement to create conditions under which the Syrians can decide themselves, without outside interference, the fate of their country," Putin said at a press conference with his Turkish counterparts, Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Ibrahim Raisi.

Putin explained that for this purpose, "our three countries took the initiative to establish a constitutional committee at the Syrian National Dialogue Conference in Sochi in 2018."

He added that with the support of the ambassadors of Russia, Iran and Turkey, as well as with the participation of the Secretary-General United Nations Special Envoy for Syria, the Syrian parties had made progress within the committee.

The war-busy President added, "The illegal presence of the US army in Syria is destabilizing," accusing the United States of destabilizing countries, and affirmed his support for the "joint security project with Iran and Turkey."

Iranian state television announced that Russian President Vladimir Putin had arrived in Tehran on Tuesday to attend an Iranian-Russian-Turkish summit.

President Putin met with Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, as well as Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. It is Putin's second foreign trip since the start of the war in Ukraine last February.

Raisi expressed his hope that the Russian President's visit would be a "turning point for future cooperation" between the two countries.

During his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin and his accompanying delegation in Tehran today, Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei called for the Americans to be expelled from the area east of the Euphrates in Syria.

Iranian state television reported that Khamenei told Putin that Tehran and Moscow should beware of "Western deception," calling for long-term cooperation between Tehran and Moscow.

The supreme leader told Erdogan that any military operation in northern Syria would have destabilizing effects on the region, which contradicts his earlier call for removing the US from East Euphrates because the US presence in the east Euphrates is dependent on the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces, whose main element is the YPJ, a group that Turkey labels terrorist and aims to remove them from Northern Syria in its upcoming operation that Khamenei advises against. 

Referring to the Ukraine crisis, Khamenei said, "War is a challenging event, and Iran is not happy at all because ordinary people are suffering from it." "The dollar must be gradually removed from global trade, and this can be done gradually," he added.

Khamenei said: "Were it not for the Russian response to "NATO" in Ukraine, the Western countries would later have fabricated this same war on the pretext of the Crimea... We consider that Russia, under your leadership, has preserved its independence, and the Americans must be expelled from the eastern Euphrates region in Syria."

On the summit's sidelines, Putin and Erdogan met to discuss an agreement to resume Ukrainian grain exports from the Black Sea.

Earlier, Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that the Syrian settlement process in the Astana format, sponsored by Russia, Turkey and Iran, will be the center of attention during President Putin's visit to Tehran.

For his part, Yury Ushakov, the Russian President's aide, announced that Putin, Erdogan and my President would sign a joint statement after their meeting in Tehran, a draft of which has already been prepared.

Also, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov did not rule out that contact would take place between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad after Putin visits Iran.

Turkish media reported that Erdogan intends to discuss with Putin during a meeting in Tehran the results of the four-way meeting in Istanbul on the issue of Ukrainian grain exports.

Iranian state television had quoted the Iranian Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei, as telling Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan that a military strike on Syria would destabilize the region.

According to the report, Khamenei declared, "Any military strike on Syria will harm the region and benefit the terrorists."