Baku, Azerbaijan, Aug. 10
By Kamila Aliyeva – Trend:
There is a discrepancy between US rhetoric and its actual policy, Adnan Tabatabai, CEO of the Center for Applied Research in Partnership with the Orient (CARPO) and an expert in the Middle East politics, told Trend.
“With the current US administration we are seeing a lot of discrepancy between rhetoric and actual policy. Therefore, I think we all have to wait and see in which fashion words of intent by Tillerson and Lavrov to improve Moscow-Washington ties eventually materialize,” he said with regards to a recent meeting between the top officials of Russia and the US.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson held a meeting in Manila Aug. 6. It was the first meeting between the officials since US imposed a new set of sanctions against Russia Aug. 2. Both sides vowed for continuation of dialogue in order to improve ties between the two countries.
Tabatabai noted that against the backdrop of the recent US sanctions against Russia, it is impossible to imagine Russia-US relations changing in substance.
“As for Iran, we have to remember that Russia is not seen by Iran as an ally. Tehran will, hence, not be too worried about Tillerson’s and Lavrov’s statements,” he said.
With regards to Syrian issue Tehran sees realities on the ground in its favor and does not believe the US will gain political capital in Damascus any time soon, according to the expert.