Putin hosted Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi in Moscow two days after U.S. President Donald Trump sent U.S. bomber planes to strike Iran’s three main nuclear sites.
“For our part, we are making efforts to assist the Iranian people,” Putin told Araqchi in televised comments Monday, describing the United States’ mission targeting Iran’s nuclear program as “unprovoked aggression,” according to a translation.
Putin also told the foreign minister: “I am very glad that you are in Moscow today, this gives us the opportunity to discuss all these urgent issues and think together about how we could get out of the current situation.”
It was unclear, however, what Russia might do to support Iran, an important ally with which Putin signed a strategic cooperation treaty in January. That agreement did not include a mutual defense clause.
Before Saturday’s U.S. strikes, Moscow had warned that American military intervention could destabilize the entire region. But in those warnings, Russia, which is currently involved in a war with Ukraine, did not indicate whether it would get involved in the Iran conflict.
Israel and Iran had been trading airstrikes with one another since June 13, with Israel saying that its strikes are designed to degrade Tehran’s nuclear program. While Iranian officials have stressed that they are not working to build nuclear weapons, both Israel and the United States have said otherwise.
A spokesman for the Kremlin, Dmitry Peskov, told reporters on Monday that in a recent call between Putin and Trump, 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.”
Last week, Putin told an economic forum in St. Petersburg that regarding the Israel–Iran conflict, “it is better not to get ahead of ourselves in order not to harm the process, but in my opinion, there are points of possible common ground.”
“We are not seeking to mediate, we are just proposing ideas. And if they are attractive to both countries, we'll be happy about it ... now our proposals are also being discussed, we have contacts with our Iranian friends almost on a daily basis, so let’s see,” he said, according to a Reuters transcript.
Putin’s meeting with the Iranian foreign minister took place as the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said that Israel launched airstrikes targeting Iranian command centers, bases, security service buildings, and intelligence agencies inside the country. The IDF also bombed a number of Iranian airports on Monday, including multiple types of aircraft.
Through state-run media, Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps said that multi-warhead missiles were launched at Israel in another salvo since the conflict erupted. Araqchi and an Iranian general threatened the United States on Sunday and Monday, with the foreign minister saying that the regime will retaliate and “all options“ are being considered.
Iran in January 2020 launched volleys of missiles at U.S. military bases in the Middle East after a U.S airstrike killed Iranian commander Qassem Soleimani, who U.S. officials said at the time had been responsible for the deaths of hundreds of American troops and was plotting more attacks.
Notably, Russia got involved in the Syrian civil war in 2015 to support Iran’s ally, former Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad, who was overthrown late last year. Russia granted Assad asylum after he was deposed.
At the U.N. Security Council on Sunday, Russia, China, and Pakistan proposed that the 15-member body adopt a resolution calling for an immediate and unconditional cease-fire in the Middle East.
Reuters contributed to this report.
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