Ayatollah Khamenei Asks Putin To Do More For Iran After US Air Strikes
Iran's Supreme Leader sent his foreign minister to Moscow on Monday to ask President Vladimir Putin for more help from Russia after the biggest US military action against the Islamic Republic since the 1979 revolution over the weekend.
US President Donald Trump and Israel have publicly speculated about killing Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and about regime change, a step Russia fears could sink the Middle East into the abyss.
While Putin has condemned the Israeli strikes, he is yet to comment on the US attacks on Iranian nuclear sites, though he last week called for calm and offered Moscow's services as a mediator over the nuclear programme.
A senior source told Reuters that Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi was due to deliver a letter from Khamenei to Putin, seeking the latter's support.
Iran has not been impressed with Russia's support so far, Iranian sources told Reuters, and the country wants Putin to do more to back it against Israel and the United States. The sources did not elaborate on what assistance Tehran wanted.
The Kremlin said that Putin would receive Araqchi but did not say what would be discussed.
Araqchi was quoted by the state TASS news agency as saying that Iran and Russia were coordinating their positions on the current escalation in the Middle East.
Putin has repeatedly offered to mediate between the United States and Iran, and said that he had conveyed Moscow's ideas on resolving the conflict to them while ensuring Iran's continued access to civil nuclear energy.
The Kremlin chief last week refused to discuss the possibility that Israel and the United States would kill Khamenei.
Putin said that Israel had given Moscow assurances that Russian specialists helping to build two more reactors at the Bushehr nuclear power plant in Iran would not be hurt in air strikes.
Russia, a longstanding ally of Tehran, plays a role in Iran's nuclear negotiations with the West as a veto-wielding U.N. Security Council member and a signatory to an earlier nuclear deal Trump abandoned during his first term in 2018.
But Putin, whose army is fighting a major war of attrition in Ukraine for the fourth year, has so far shown little appetite in public for diving into a confrontation with the United States over Iran just as Trump seeks to repair ties with Moscow.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
India Today
34 minutes ago
- India Today
Iran's retaliation against US strikes could come in next 48 hours: Report
Iran could launch retaliatory attacks against US forces in the Middle East within the next 48 hours, further escalating the conflict in the region following US airstrikes on Iranian nuclear facilities over the the Trump administration is continuing diplomatic efforts to prevent further conflict, two US officials, speaking on condition of anonymity to news agency Reuters, said intelligence assessments point to a heightened threat window in the next day or has vowed to defend itself after the US struck multiple targets, including components of its nuclear infrastructure, in what Washington described as a preemptive move to prevent an "unacceptable escalation" in the region. The strikes have prompted fears of a broader military conflict between the long-time President Donald Trump, who authorised the mission dubbed Operation Midnight Hammer, warned that any Iranian retaliation would be met with "a force far greater than that used in the weekend US attacks".In preemptive moves, General Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said that the US military has heightened protection measures for its troops in the region, including those stationed in Iraq and US maintains around 40,000 troops across the Middle East, many of whom operate high-value assets including air defence systems, fighter aircraft, and warships—all of which could be vulnerable in the event of a coordinated Iranian week, the Pentagon began repositioning some of those assets to reduce exposure. Among the moves was the moving out of aircraft from the sprawling Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar, which houses around 10,000 US personnel and serves as a strategic hub for operations across the its vows to retaliate, Tehran has so far refrained from attacking US positions or attempting to close the Strait of Hormuz, a vital waterway through which roughly a quarter of the world's oil shipments al-Rahim Mousavi, Chief of Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces, said the country will respond appropriately to the American aggression."Regardless of the damage caused to the three nuclear facilities, we will respond against the US simply because it attacked our country," Mousavi said.- EndsMust Watch
NDTV
34 minutes ago
- NDTV
Iran's Nuclear Site At Fordow Significantly Damaged: IAEA Chief
Vienna: US bombing probably caused "very significant" damage to the underground areas of Iran's Fordow uranium enrichment plant dug into a mountain, though no one can yet tell the extent, UN nuclear watchdog chief Rafael Grossi said on Monday. The United States dropped the biggest conventional bombs in its arsenal on Iranian nuclear facilities on Sunday, using those bunker-busting munitions in combat for the first time to try and eliminate sites including the Fordow uranium-enrichment plant dug into a mountain. "At this time, no one, including the IAEA is in a position to have fully assessed the underground damage at Fordow," Grossi said in a statement to an emergency meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency's 35-nation Board of Governors. The IAEA has not been able to carry out inspections in Iran since Israel started its military strikes on nuclear facilities there on June 13. "Given the explosive payload utilised and the extreme(ly) vibration-sensitive nature of centrifuges, very significant damage is expected to have occurred," Grossi added. Beyond the level of damage done to Fordow's underground enrichment halls, one of the biggest open questions is the status of its stock of enriched uranium, particularly its more than 400 kg of uranium enriched to up to 60% purity, a short step from the roughly 90% that is weapons grade. That is enough, if enriched further, for nine nuclear weapons, according to an IAEA yardstick, though Iran says its intentions are peaceful and it does not seek atom bombs. Iran did, however, inform the IAEA on June 13 that it would take "special measures" to protect its nuclear materials and equipment that are under so-called IAEA safeguards, the oversight provided for by the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, Grossi said.
India Today
35 minutes ago
- India Today
Israel vs Iran conflict escalates, Vladimir Putin calls attack on Iran 'unprovoked aggression'
The conflict between Israel and Iran has escalated with heavy missile fire exchanged between the two nations. Israel has struck six Iranian airports, while Iran has launched a missile barrage on Israel. Russian President Vladimir Putin has condemned the attacks on Iran and called it 'unprovoked aggression'. He pledged aid to Iran. Civilian areas in Israel, including Tel Aviv and Haifa, have been severely affected, with significant damage to infrastructure and numerous casualties reported. The IAEA has expressed concerns about potential radiation leaks and emphasised the need for diplomacy.
