Russian President Vladimir Putin congratulated Iranian leaders on Nowruz and said Moscow remained a loyal friend and reliable partner to Tehran, the Kremlin said on Saturday.
Vladimir Putin © Mena Today
Russian President Vladimir Putin congratulated Iranian leaders on Nowruz and said Moscow remained a loyal friend and reliable partner to Tehran, the Kremlin said on Saturday.
The extent of Moscow's support for Iran, though, is in dispute. Some Iranian sources have said that they have had little real help from Moscow in the biggest crisis for Iran since the U.S.-backed Shah was toppled in the 1979 revolution.
Putin sent congratulations to Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on the Iranian new year, the Kremlin said.
"Vladimir Putin wished the Iranian people to overcome the harsh trials with dignity and stressed that in this difficult time Moscow remains a loyal friend and reliable partner of Tehran," the Kremlin said.
Russia says the U.S. and Israeli attacks on Iran have thrust the entire Middle East into the abyss and triggered a major global energy crisis, while Putin condemned the killing of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as a "cynical" murder.
Politico reported that Moscow proposed a quid pro quo to Washington: the Kremlin would stop sharing intelligence with Iran if Washington ceased supplying Ukraine with intelligence about Russia, but the United States rejected the idea. The Kremlin has dismissed the report as fake.
Russia was deprived of an ally when the United States toppled Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro, though Moscow has benefited from the high oil prices triggered by the U.S. and Israeli attacks on Iran, a strategic partner.
The published strategic partnership does not contain a mutual defence clause, and Russia has repeatedly said that it does not want Iran to develop an atomic bomb, a step that Moscow fears would trigger a nuclear arms race across the Middle East.
By Guy Faulconbridge and Marina Bobrova
Yemen's Houthi leader Abdul Malik al-Houthi said on Thursday that all Saudi oil and other vital facilities would be targets for the group's missiles and drones if Riyadh escalated its involvement in the conflict.
Hezbollah lawmaker Hassan Fadlallah told parliament Thursday that the "ill-fated" framework agreement signed on June 26 between Lebanon and Israel was "doomed to fail," insisting "the Zionists will not be able to impose its implementation" and that "our people will thwart its effects on the ground."
U.S. Vice President JD Vance said some members of the Israeli government had tried to influence U.S. public opinion to oppose a deal by the U.S. to end the war with Iran, in a podcast episode with host Joe Rogan posted on Wednesday.
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