MOSCOW — Russian officials on Sunday castigated the US for its missile strike against Iran’s nuclear plants, issuing veiled threats that Iran’s nuclear ambitions would not be thwarted and welcoming Tehran’s foreign minister for talks in Moscow.
A statement from Russia’s Foreign Ministry “strongly condemned” the airstrikes and called them a “a gross violation of international law, the UN Charter, and UN Security Council resolutions.”
Dmitry Medvedev, who serves as deputy head of President Vladimir Putin’s Security Council, said several countries were prepared to supply Tehran with nuclear weapons. He didn't specify which, but said the US attack caused minimal damage and would not stop Tehran from pursuing nuclear weapons.
The Iranian foreign minister told a press conference earlier that he would fly to Moscow on Sunday and have a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday.
“Russia is a friend of Iran and we enjoy a strategic partnership,” he told a news conference in Istanbul.
“We always consult with each other and coordinate our positions,” Araghchi said, noting that Russia was one of the signatories of the UN agreement on nuclear proliferation in Iran.
“I will have serious consultations with the Russian president tomorrow and we continue to work with each other,” he said.
But Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky underlined the irony of Russia pointing the finger at the US for alleged breaches of the global rulebook, in a post on X in which he stated that the country had once again signalled it wanted no ceasefire in Ukraine.
"Putin can look at his friends in Iran to see where such regimes end up, and how far into decay they drive their countries," Zelensky warned the Russian President in a post on X.
Zelensky said, "Russia wants to wage war. Even brandishing some threats. This means the pressure the world is applying isn’t hurting them enough yet, or they are trying very hard to keep up appearances. Well, the Russian economy is already crumbling. We will support this process even more." — Euronews
