 "Russian President Vladimir Putin and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi attend a meeting in Moscow, Russia on Monday, in this still image taken from video. Reuters")
Two days after US President Donald Trump ordered airstrikes on three of Iran’s main nuclear facilities, Russian President Vladimir Putin met Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi in Moscow on Monday.
During the meeting, Putin condemned the strikes as “unjustified” and said Moscow was working to support the Iranian people amid rising regional tensions.
“The absolutely unprovoked aggression against Iran has no basis and no justification,” Reuters quoted Putin as telling Araghchi in televised comments.
“For our part, we are making efforts to assist the Iranian people,” he added.
Putin said he was glad to see Araghchi in Moscow and expressed hope that this opportunity would help discuss all the pressing issues.
“I am very glad that you are in Moscow today, this will give us the opportunity to discuss all these pressing issues and think together about how we could get out of today’s situation,” he said.
Thanking Russia for condemning the US actions, Araghchi told Putin that Iran was conducting legitimate self-defence and also conveyed best wishes to Putin from Iran’s supreme leader and president.
“Russia is today on the right side of history and international law,” said Araghchi.
According to a Reuters report, it remains unclear what concrete steps Russia might take to support Iran, a key regional ally with whom President Putin signed a strategic cooperation agreement in January.
Impact Shorts
More ShortsNotably, the pact stopped short of including a mutual defence provision.
Ahead of Saturday’s US airstrikes, Moscow had warned that any American military intervention risked destabilising the region and pushing it toward what it described as an “abyss.”
Asked what Russia was ready to do to help Tehran, Reuters quoted Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov as saying, “It all depends on what Iran needs”.
He said the fact that Moscow had offered to mediate in the crisis was itself a form of support.
Peskov condemned the US attacks.
“An increase in the number of participants in this conflict is happening - or rather, has happened. A new spiral of escalation of tension in the region,” Peskov told reporters.
“And, of course, we condemn this and express regret in this regard, deep regret. In addition, of course, it remains to be seen what happened to (Iran’s) nuclear facilities, whether there is a radiation hazard.”
Peskov said Trump had not told Putin in detail about the planned strikes in advance.
“There was no detailed information. The topic of Iran itself was repeatedly discussed by the presidents during their most recent conversations, certain proposals were voiced by Russia, but there was no direct detailed information about this,” he said.
With inputs from agencies