Tehran, 19 July 2022 (dpa/MIA) – Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan head to Tehran on Tuesday for talks with their Iranian counterpart, Ebrahim Raisi. The official purpose of the summit in the Iranian capital is to discuss the situation in Syria, although Russia's war in Ukraine was expected to also feature. The three countries have conducted talks on Syria in the past, with Russia and Iran supporting the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in the long-running civil war, while Turkey maintains links to opposition forces in the country. Since 2017, Russia, Iran and Turkey have sponsored meetings under the Astana format aimed at arriving at a political settlement to end the war. In recent months Ankara said it was mulling a fresh military offensive in northern Syria to target Kurdish armed groups. Ankara already controls swathes of Syrian territory, but Russia and Iran have cautioned against mounting a further incursion. The visit to Tehran is Putin's second official trip abroad since Russian forces invaded Ukraine at the end of February. He was in Tajikistan last month. While the war in Ukraine is not officially on the agenda, it is thought likely to be a topic for discussion. Turkey maintains close ties with both Moscow and Kiev and has acted as mediator in the conflict to facilitate grain exports from Ukraine's Black Sea ports. Officially, Iran maintains a neutral stance in the war. But Tehran's sympathies for Russia are well known as Moscow is its main military equipment supplier. Last week, Jake Sullivan, the White House national security adviser, told reporters the US had information indicating Tehran was looking to supply Russia with weapons-capable drones for use in Ukraine. Iran's drones have used by the Houthi rebels in Yemen to attack Saudi Arabia, he noted. Iran blasted Sullivan's claim as "baseless" while the Kremlin said drones would not be a subject of discussion on Tuesday. Iran's relations with Moscow have become increasingly close in recent years - especially after 2018, when the United States, under then-president Donald Trump, pulled out of the Vienna nuclear agreement and began reimposing economic sanctions.