Russian President Vladimir Putin congratulated Iranian leaders on the occasion of Nowruz, the Persian new year, and declared that Moscow remains a loyal friend and reliable partner for Tehran, the Kremlin announced on Saturday, Reuters reports.
Putin wished the Iranian people “to overcome difficult trials with dignity”. AFP PHOTO
However, the extent of Moscow's support to Iran is being questioned, according to the same agency, quoted by Agerpres.
Iranian sources said authorities in Tehran had received little real help from Moscow in Iran's biggest crisis since the ouster of the US-backed shah in a 1979 revolution.
The Kremlin leader sent greetings to Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on the occasion of the Iranian New Year, the Kremlin said.
“Vladimir Putin wished the Iranian people to overcome difficult trials with dignity and emphasized that in this difficult period Moscow remains a loyal friend and reliable partner of Tehran”. the Kremlin said.
The US and Israel on Iran have thrown the entire Middle East into chaos, according to Kremplin
Moscow believes that US and Israeli attacks on Iran have thrown the entire Middle East into chaos and triggered a major global energy crisis, and has described the killing of Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, as a “cynical murder”.
Russia would have proposed a quid pro quo to the United States, according to Politico: the Kremlin would stop sharing information with Iran if Washington stopped providing Ukraine with information about Russia, but the United States rejected the idea.
However, the Kremlin denied the report, which it qualified as false.
Putin was left without an ally when the United States toppled Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro from power, although Moscow benefited from high oil prices triggered by US and Israeli attacks on Iran, Moscow's strategic partner, Reuters notes.
The published 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 step Moscow fears would trigger a nuclear arms race in the Middle East.
