Tehran Trio

They do not always correspond to the interests of the United States, which is the leading player in this region and in many cases helps build a barrier against American expansion, and also to balance the views of Moscow and Tehran on the eastern theme.

In August 2016, at the first summit in Baku, the troika in the final declaration defined the directions for regional cooperation, which included:

- strengthening of interstate relations,

-regulation of regional conflicts,

- fight against terrorism, extremism, transnational crime,

-development of cooperation in the sphere of economy, energy, transport, infrastructure, culture, tourism, business,

- support of projects on development of the transport corridor "North-South",

- the completion in the shortest possible time of the elaboration of the Convention on the Legal Status of the Caspian Sea.

The past year has shown a different speed, and consistent development of cooperation on these priorities. The best case was in the interaction on the Syrian and Iraqi settlement, which marked a decrease in the strength and influence of the Islamic state, as well as ensuring the territorial integrity of Iraq in connection with the Kurds' claims on the independence of Iraqi Kurdistan.

During this time Iran and Russia increased their presence and influence in these countries, helping to stabilize the situation, along with the US and Turkey. This situation is quite satisfactory to Azerbaijan, which has a trusting relationship with the regimes in Syria and Iraq and is interested in maintaining stability in these countries without the domination of any power.

The fact that crises occupied an important place in the agenda, especially the heads of state of Iran and Russia, is evidenced by the presence in the Russian delegation of the chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov who held during the summit consultations with the high military leadership of Iran on the interaction in Syria and Iraq.

Two important issues on the agenda of the summit: the construction of the North-South railway, the settlement of the legal status of the Caspian received another political support in the form of a joint statement on the acceleration of the solution of these projects. After the Baku summit, which also called for acceleration, it seems that little has changed. This shows that the parties do not set the task of speeding up the process, and are more interested in moving at a given pace.

In terms of economic cooperation and cooperation, although the presidents noted the increase in trade turnover in the bilateral format of all the countries participating in the summit, they did not approve concrete projects at the meeting. The situation as before develops within the framework of the negotiation format "about intentions", for example, regarding the development and supply from Russia of gas from the south of Iran to India, as well as the supply of Russian gas to Iran via Azerbaijan.

Attempts by Iran in the person of the spiritual leader Ayatollah Khamenei to form the axis of opposition to US pressure, which, by the words of President Trump, threaten to leave the Joint Comprehensive Action Plan for the Iranian nuclear program and impose further sanctions against Tehran, did not receive the proper public support from Presidents Aliyev and Putin. Everyone is overburdened with US claims and threats of the next sanctions, and is not interested in producing additional problems that can prevent unsteady cooperation of Azerbaijan, Iran and Russia in the region of the Front Asia.