Russian President Vladimir Putin congratulated Iranian leaders on Nowruz and said Moscow remains a loyal friend and reliable partner of Tehran, the Kremlin said on Saturday.
The extent of Moscow’s support for Iran, however, is in dispute. Some Iranian sources said they had little real help from Moscow in the biggest crisis for Iran since the U.S.-backed Shah was overthrown 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 emphasized that at this difficult time, Moscow remains a loyal friend and reliable partner of Tehran,” the Kremlin said.
Russia says US and Israeli attacks on Iran have pushed the entire Middle East into the abyss and triggered a major global energy crisis, while Putin has condemned the assassination of Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as a “cynical” assassination.
Politico reported that Moscow proposed a quid pro quo to Washington: the Kremlin would stop sharing intelligence information with Iran if Washington stopped providing Ukraine with intelligence information about Russia, but the United States rejected the idea. The Kremlin dismissed the report as false.
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Russia was deprived of an ally when the United States ousted Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro, although Moscow benefited from high oil prices sparked by U.S. and Israeli attacks on Iran, a strategic partner.
The disclosed strategic partnership does not contain a mutual defense clause, and Russia has repeatedly said it does not want Iran to develop an atomic bomb, a move Moscow fears will trigger a nuclear arms race in the Middle East.
