Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian at a press conference in Tehran, 16 September 2024. Photo: EPA-EFE / ABEDIN TAHERKENAREH
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov signalled Moscow’s readiness to “clarify Russia’s position on the war in Ukraine” to its allies in Tehran on Tuesday, following comments made by Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian in which he said Iran had “never approved of Russian aggression” in Ukraine.
“We will continue to explain our position and everything related to this conflict around Ukraine to our Iranian friends,” a rather cordial Peskov told reporters at a press briefing, noting the two countries enjoyed “very positive interaction” in various fields and that Pezeshkian had been expressing “Iran’s sovereign position”.
Pezeshkian, a reformist who took office in late July following the death in May of former Iranian president Ebrahim Raisi in a helicopter crash, denied that Iran had supplied Russia with missiles and told the UN General Assembly in New York on Monday that he was ready to “have a dialogue” with the West.
“We are willing to sit down with the Europeans and the Americans to have a dialogue and negotiations. We have never approved of Russian aggression against Ukrainian territory,” Pezeshkian said in remarks quoted by AFP.
Earlier in September, Washington accused Tehran of supplying Russia with ballistic missiles for its war in Ukraine, prompting additional US sanctions against Iran. Iran dismissed the accusations as “psychological warfare”, while Peskov gave a vague response in early September, calling Iran “an important partner” but noting that such reports were “not always true”.
Pezeshkian is expected to travel to Russia to attend a BRICS summit in October, where he is expected to hold bilateral talks with Vladimir Putin, AFP reported on Tuesday.
Moscow and Tehran, both of which have been under strict Western sanctions for many years now, grew significantly closer following the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, with Tehran providing Moscow with thousands of Iranian-made Shahed kamikaze drones that Russia uses to carry out mass air strikes on Ukrainian cities.
