Aggression against Iran was groundless, tells Russian President Vladimir Putin to Iran Foreign Minister

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday (June 23, 2025) told Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi in talks in Moscow that aggression against Iran was groundless.

Mr. Putin made the comments at the start of Kremlin talks and said Russia was ready to help the Iranian people..

Earlier, Russia deeply regretted and condemned the U.S. strikes on Iranian nuclear sites.

Israel-Iran conflict LIVE updates

The U.S. actions had increased the number of participants in the conflict and ushered in a new spiral of escalation, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

He added it was not yet clear what had happened to Iran’s nuclear facilities and whether there was a radiation hazard.

The situation on the ground in Iran after the strikes cannot fail to be a cause of concern, he said.

Russia signed a strategic partnership treaty with Iran in January, although it did not include a mutual defence clause. Before Saturday’s U.S. strikes, Moscow had warned that U.S. military intervention could destabilise the entire region and plunge it into the “abyss”.

Peskov said U.S. President Donald Trump had not told Russian President Vladimir Putin in detail about the planned strikes in advanced, although they had discussed the possibility of U.S. military involvement more generally.

Asked what Russia was ready to do now, Peskov said Moscow had offered its services as a mediator, and what happened next would depend on what Iran needed.

Russia is on ‘right side of history’, says Abbas Araghchi

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on Monday thanked Russian President Vladimir Putin for condemning U.S. strikes on Iran, telling him Russia stood on “the right side of history”.

Mr. Araghchi made the comments at the start of Kremlin talks with Putin and told the Russian leader that Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and President Masoud Pezeshkian had asked him to convey their best wishes to Mr. Putin.