Who are Iran's allies — and will any help after the US strikes?
Iran's foreign minister will hold a 'serious consultation' with President Putin in Moscow on Monday after US strikes on its nuclear facilities.
Seyed Abbas Araghchi said the American attacks were 'outrageous and will have everlasting consequences'. Russia has described them as a violation of international law.
Dmitry Medvedev, the former Russian president, accused President Trump of starting 'another war' and said the prospect of a US ground operation is now 'looming on the horizon'.
'And now we can say it outright, the future production of nuclear weapons will continue,' he said. 'A number of countries are ready to directly supply Iran with their own nuclear warheads.'The US launched co-ordinated airstrikes overnight against three Iranian nuclear sites — Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan — in what Trump described as a 'very successful attack'.
The strikes, widely anticipated after days of mounting tension, came after repeated warnings from Moscow that any direct US action on Iranian soil would amount to a dangerous escalation.
Putin is yet to comment publicly on the strikes but despite fiery rhetoric from members of his government, there has been no signal that Russia is preparing a military response.
Since Israel began attacking Iran on June 13 in an operation dubbed 'Rising Lion', Russian action has been limited to condemnation and an offer to mediate between the two sides.At last week's St Petersburg economic forum, Putin reiterated that Iran had not asked Russia for any military assistance and emphasised that mutual co-operation did not include defence obligations.
The 20‑year strategic co-operation deal signed last year between Moscow and Tehran excluded a mutual defence clause.
Iran's other allies and its neighbours were quick to condemn the US action, warning that it could precipitate all-out war in the Middle East, but they also stopped short of offering any concrete support.
China 'strongly condemned' the attack on Iran, saying it violated 'the purposes and principles of the UN charter and international law', and called for a ceasefire.
Lebanon's Hezbollah, once Iran's most powerful proxy, said on Sunday that it had no immediate plans to retaliate. The militants, themselves decimated after a year and a half of war with Israel, have not launched a single attack since the operation began.The Houthis, in Yemen, offered the strongest pledge of action, saying they supported a previous statement from their armed wing, which threatened US naval vessels in the Red Sea in solidarity.
Specific details of what Iran will request from Russia during the forthcoming talks have not been officially disclosed by either government, but Araghchi could seek to secure the Kremlin's political or diplomatic backing.
Experts said that with resources tied up with the war in Ukraine, Russia is unlikely to be preparing to come to Tehran's rescue. Putin did little to stop the advance of rebels in Syria in December last year who toppled a key Russian ally, Bashar al-Assad, from power.
'Putin will of course fire out a lot of aggressive rhetoric … but he can't do much, ' said Ian Garner, a historian and academic focused on Russian culture and war propaganda. 'It will likely be a case that Putin's bark is very loud but his bite is about as toothless as it gets.'
Fyodor Lukyanov, head of Russia's council on foreign and defence policy, which advises the Kremlin, said that Putin's statements in recent days show he is extremely cautious.
'He has never expressed any assessment of one side or the other, only about the need for negotiations and a peaceful solution,' he said. 'Iran may have expected more. It has supplied the Kremlin with thousands of drones and missiles used in the war against Ukraine.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Sun
35 minutes ago
- The Sun
US might have killed any immediate threat of an Iranian nuke but here's why it may not have won the war yet
PRESIDENT Donald Trump's surprise attack on Iran's three main nuclear sites is a dramatic escalation of the Middle East crisis. By neutralising the places where it was enriching uranium to A-bomb grade, the Americans have almost certainly killed any immediate threat of an Iranian nuclear weapon. 3 3 3 But Washington has not necessarily won the war yet. Israel's extraordinary decapitation strikes on military leaders and nuclear scientists ten days ago battered the Islamic Republic but it did not back down. Even taking out Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei himself would not necessarily collapse the regime or make Iran give in. America can do vastly more harm to the Iranians than Israel, but will they back off? More importantly, could Iran's leaders survive giving in to Trump's demand they abandon any nuclear enrichment project to Washington's satisfaction? Cutting their losses by accepting Trump's demands would be wisest for the sake of 90million ordinary Iranians. Remember, Trump had ominously ordered the ten million people of the capital, Tehran, to evacuate the city for their own safety. But Iran's leaders are drenched in the cult of martyrdom. Suicide bombing was promoted by the ayatollahs' regime from the beginning. Their proxies in Lebanon blew up 242 US Marines there in 1983 with the first 'spectacular' suicide truck bomb. Watch Trump hail 'very successful' bombing on Iran's nuke bases Next month in their religious calendar is Muharram, which is when Iran's Shiites celebrate what cynical secular Westerners regard as past futile sacrifices. So making the case for cutting losses goes against the grain. Even if Khamenei and the official Iran government go for a deal with Trump, they could face a backlash from hardline fanatics. They could argue America and Israel are never going to risk a ground invasion. Trump's supporters won't accept body bags coming back from Iran as they did from Afghanistan and Iraq for years for nothing. They can sit out an air war and absorb the bombs and casualties, they hope. And they can shoot and hang any Iranians who protest. As the Revolutionary Guards controlling Iran's missiles showed immediately after the American air strikes, they can hit back hard — at least against Israel. They may be shrewd enough to avoid US targets so Trump won't retaliate against Iran, but hit Washington's allies. Israel was already in their sights and, however effective its defences, even a handful of missiles getting in paralyses a port like Haifa or the main airport, Ben Gurion Israel is losing money hand over fist, if mercifully few lives. The Iranians would be wise to find a way to calm things rather than stirring up more death and destruction. Mark Almond Let's not ignore that Britain could find itself in the line of fire. Long before the current crisis, Iranian propaganda demonised us as the Little Satan scurrying along beside the American Great Satan. So when Keir Starmer voiced the British government's support for the US and Israel's right to nullify the Iranian nuclear threat, that will have been 'proof' enough for Iran's fanatical missile controllers. Only the day before Trump's salvo of bunker busters and cruise missiles on Iran, a man was arrested for allegedly scouting the British base at Akrotiri, apparently as a target for a potential terrorist attack. Although a British passport holder, he is reported to be an ethnic Azeri, the second-biggest part of Iran's population mix. The Ayatollah himself is half-Azeri through his mother. Iran could have 'sleeper cells' of similar saboteurs waiting for the signal to go into action against Britain and other US allies — or even inside the US itself. The Iranians would be wise to find a way to calm things rather than stirring up more death and destruction. But that was true long before this war broke out.
Sky News
37 minutes ago
- Sky News
Israel-Iran live: Trump calls to 'make Iran great again' - as Tehran urges UN over 'historic test'
Donald Trump has asked why there would not be a "regime change" in Iran following US strikes, calling to "make Iran great again". Meanwhile, Iran's UN envoy says the current situation provides a "historic test" for the body. Watch and follow the latest below.
BBC News
43 minutes ago
- BBC News
Iran accuses US of 'waging war' under 'absurd pretext' after strikes on nuclear sites
Update: Date: 22:55 BST Title: World should thank Trump, Israeli representative at UN says Content: Following the comments from the Iranian representative at the UN Security Council, we heard from Israel's Danny Denon - who says the world should be thanking Donald Trump. "The entire world should say on record here today thank you," Danny Danon says. "Thank you to Donald Trump for acting when so many hesitated." He says that some at the UN have "denounced" the US and Israel, but queries "where were you when Iran enriched uranium far beyond the point of civilian usage, when it built a fortress beneath a mountain to prepare for our extermination?" He says that it cannot be ignored that "diplomacy was tried" but says Iran "turned negotiation into theatre" and used it as "camouflage" to buy time to build missiles and enrich uranium. Danon continues, saying that Iran negotiated agreements "it never intended to keep". "The free world gave it every chance," he says, and that the cost of inaction would have been "a death sentence". Update: Date: 22:54 BST Title: US 'waged a war under absurd pretext' - Iranian representative at UN Content: Iran's ambassador and permanent representative to the United Nations, Amir Saeid Iravani Iran's representative to the UN Security Council has accused the US of having "waged a war" against Iran "under a fabricated and absurd pretext". Amir Saeid Iravani says Iran reserves the right "to defend itself" against "blatant US aggression" before adding that the timing, nature and scale of "Iran's proportionate response" will be decided by its armed forces. In a lengthy statement, Iravani also accuses Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of pulling America into "another costly, baseless war" and says the actions by the US and Israel are a "flagrant breach of international law". The Iranian representative says Israel has promoted the "deceitful and false narrative" his country was "on the cusp of acquiring a nuclear weapon". He continues: "The silence, double standards, and complicity of international organisations and some Western countries, including France and the UK, are equally reprehensible." Amir Saeid Iravani ends his address by calling on the council to hold the US and Israel "fully accountable". Update: Date: 22:52 BST Title: A day after strikes, Iran accuses US of 'waging war' under 'absurd pretext' Content: A satellite image shows damage at the Isfahan nuclear site after US airstrikes Welcome back to our continuing coverage of the conflict in the Middle East. It's been almost 24 hours since the United States carried out strikes on three of Iran's nuclear sites - Fordo, Natanz and Isfahan. On Sunday, in comments at the UN Security Council in New York, Iran accused the US of "waging war" "under an absurd pretext". At the same time, US President Donald Trump hinted at regime change in Iran - despite the US, and Israel, saying the aim of their strikes was to stop Iran getting a nuclear weapon. We'll bring you the latest developments over the course of the day, so stay with us. In the meantime, if you need a recap of the past 48 hours, you can get it in our previous page.
