Iran has right to peaceful N power: Putin

MOSCOW, June 19 (Reuters/AFP): President Vladimir Putin on Thursday refused to discuss the possibility that Israel and the United States would kill Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and said the Iranian people were consolidating around the leadership in Tehran.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has openly speculated that Israel's military attacks could result in regime change in Iran while US President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that the US knew where Khamenei was "hiding" but that Washington was not going to kill him "for now".

Asked what his reaction would be if Israel did kill Khamenei with the assistance of the United States, Putin said: "I do not even want to discuss this possibility. I do not want to."

When pressed, Putin said he had heard the remarks about possibly killing Khamenei but that he did not want to discuss it.

"We see that today in Iran, with all the complexity of the internal political processes taking place there...that there is a consolidation of society around the country's political leadership," Putin told senior news agency editors in the northern Russian city of St Petersburg.

China's President Xi Jinping said Thursday a ceasefire between Iran and Israel was the 'top priority' during a phone call with Russia's Vladimir Putin, Chinese state media reported.

"Promoting a ceasefire and cessation of hostilities is the top priority. Armed force is not the correct way to resolve international disputes," Xi said, according to Xinhua.

Putin said all sides should look for ways to end hostilities in a way that ensured both Iran's right to peaceful nuclear power and Israel's right to the unconditional security of the Jewish state.

Putin was speaking as Trump kept the world guessing whether the US would join Israel's bombardment of Iranian nuclear and missile sites and as residents of Iran's capital streamed out of the city on the sixth day of the air assault.

Putin said he had been in touch with Trump and with Netanyahu, and that he had conveyed Moscow's ideas on resolving the conflict while ensuring Iran's continued access to civil nuclear energy.

Questioned about possible regime change in Iran, Putin said that before getting into something, one should always look at whether or not the main aim is being achieved before starting something.

He said Iran's underground uranium enrichment facilities were still intact. "These underground factories, they exist, nothing has happened to them," Putin said.

"It seems to me that it would be right for everyone to look for ways to end hostilities and find ways for all parties to this conflict to come to an agreement with each other," Putin said. "In my opinion, in general, such a solution can be found."

Asked if Russia was ready to provide Iran with modern weapons to defend itself against Israeli strikes, Putin said a strategic partnership treaty signed with Tehran in January did not envisage military cooperation and that Iran had not made any formal request for assistance.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said on Wednesday that Moscow was telling the United States not to strike Iran because it would radically destabilise the Middle East.

US evacuates diplomats

from Israel amid tensions

The U.S. State Department has begun evacuating nonessential diplomatic staff and their families from the American embassy in Israel as the conflict between Israel and Iran intensifies. President Donald Trump has also issued warnings about the potential for direct U.S. military involvement in the region.

According to two U.S. officials speaking anonymously due to the sensitivity of the situation, a government aircraft transported several diplomats and their family members out of Israel on Wednesday. The exact number of individuals on the flight was not disclosed, nor was there confirmation of how many others may have left by land to neighboring Jordan or Egypt.