Khamenei asks Putin to do more for Iran after US air strikes

Iranian leader Ali Khamenei dispatched his foreign minister to Moscow on Monday to seek further assistance from President Vladimir Putin, following the largest U.S. military action against Iran since the 1979 revolution.

US President Donald Trump and Israel have publicly discussed the possibility of assassinating Khamenei and pursuing regime change in Iran—a move Russia fears would further destabilize the Middle East.

Putin has condemned the Israeli strikes but has not yet commented on the U.S. attacks on Iranian nuclear sites. However, last week he called for restraint and offered for Moscow to mediate in nuclear negotiations.

Tehran Not Satisfied

A source said Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi will deliver a message from Khamenei to Putin, requesting greater support. Iranian sources indicated that Tehran is dissatisfied with the current level of Russian backing and wants Putin to do more to support Iran against Israel and the United States. The sources did not specify the type of assistance Iran is seeking.

Araqchi was quoted by the official TASS news agency as saying that Iran and Russia are coordinating their positions on the current escalation in the Middle East.

Russia plays a key role in Iran’s nuclear negotiations with the West as a veto-wielding member of the UN Security Council and a signatory to the previous nuclear agreement, which Trump withdrew from during his first term in 2018.

However, Putin—whose military has been engaged in a major war in Ukraine for over three years—has shown no clear desire to confront the United States over Iran, even as Trump attempts to restore relations with Moscow.

Mediation

Putin has repeatedly offered to mediate between the United States and Iran and has conveyed Moscow’s proposals for resolving the conflict, while ensuring Iran retains access to civilian nuclear energy.

Putin said Israel has provided Moscow with guarantees that Russian personnel helping construct two additional reactors at Iran’s Bushehr nuclear power plant would not be harmed in Israeli airstrikes.

Although Moscow has purchased weapons from Iran for use in the war in Ukraine and signed a 20-year strategic partnership agreement with Tehran earlier this year, their centuries-old relationship has experienced occasional tensions. The partnership agreement does not include a mutual defense clause.

Russian Support for Iran

Within Russia, there have been calls for the Kremlin to support Iran in the same way Washington supports Ukraine—including with air defense systems, missiles, and satellite intelligence.

At the UN Security Council on Sunday, Russia, China, and Pakistan proposed that the 15-member body adopt a resolution calling for an immediate and unconditional ceasefire following the U.S. strikes.

Russia’s UN Ambassador, Vassily Nebenzia, referenced former U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell’s 2003 remarks to the Council about Iraq’s alleged weapons of mass destruction. Nebenzia said, “Once again, we are being asked to believe the myths of the United States, and once again, millions of people in the Middle East will suffer as a result. This only reinforces our conviction that history has taught our American colleagues nothing.”