TEHRAN: Russia and Iran jointly oppose “external attempts” to bring regime change in Syria, a Kremlin official said on Monday in Tehran after President Vladimir Putin met supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

The comments were a direct rebuff of repeated demands from the United States, France, Britain and Saudi Arabia that President Bashar al-Assad step down and play no future role in war-torn Syria.

On his first trip to Iran in eight years, Putin, accompanied by his Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, went straight into a meeting with Khamenei, the Islamic republic’s ultimate authority.

Describing the 90-minute encounter as “quite constructive” and longer than planned, a Kremlin spokesman said the two countries had “unity of views” on Syria.

Russia and Iran are against “external attempts to dictate scenarios of political settlement” in the conflict-wracked state, and only Syria’s people could decide to dump Assad in elections following a ceasefire.

Khamenei said the US had a “long-term plan” to dominate Syria and the Middle East which would “disadvantage all countries, especially Iran and Russia”.

“This threat should be neutralised wisely and with closer interaction,” he was quoted as saying in a statement.

Putin and Khamenei met before the Russian leader headed to a major summit of gas exporting countries in the Iranian capital.

Iran and Russia have become increasingly allied in Syria providing support that has propped up Assad’s government and forces since an uprising erupted in 2011.

What began as a conflict between Assad’s army and Western- and Gulf-backed rebels has since spiralled into a multi-faceted war that has killed more than 250,000.Attention is currently focused on stopping the militant Islamic State group, who last year seized large parts of Syria before surging into Iraq.

Both Iran and Russia, which has a major sea port base in Syria, are seeking to limit US leverage in the Middle East.

The threat from IS has taken on new potency and spread into Europe since the militants committed coordinated gun and bomb attacks in Paris on November 13, killing 130 people.

For Russia, defending Assad and confronting IS has become more important since the militants blew up a Russian airliner over Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula on October 31, killing all 224 on board. This shared goal has seen Iran send commanders from its elite Revolutionary Guards to support and advise Assad’s forces, with Tehran coordinating a collection of Shia militias on the ground.

On the economy, Russia and Iran are also looking at bigger deals once sanctions are lifted under the July 14 nuclear deal between Tehran and world powers, including Moscow.

Published in Dawn, November 24th, 2015