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PUTIN TELLS IRANIAN FOREIGN MINISTER IN MOSCOW

No justification for US attack on Iran

Pakistan condemns Trump's Iran bombing


June 24, 2025 00:00:00


Russian President Vladimir Putin welcomes Iranian Ambassador to Russia Kazem Jalali and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi during a meeting at the Kremlin in Moscow on Monday — Reuters

MOSCOW, June 23 (Reuters/AFP): Russian President Vladimir Putin told Iran's foreign minister on Monday there was no justification for the US bombing of his country and that Moscow was trying to help the Iranian people.

Putin hosted Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi in Moscow two days after US President Donald Trump sent US bomber planes to strike Iran's three main nuclear sites.

"The absolutely unprovoked aggression against Iran has no basis and no justification," Putin told Araqchi in televised comments. "For our part, we are making efforts to assist the Iranian people," he added.

"I am very glad that you are in Moscow today, this will give us the opportunity to discuss all these pressing issues and think together about how we could get out of today's situation."

Araqchi told Putin that Iran was conducting legitimate self-defence, and thanked Russia for condemning the US actions. He conveyed best wishes to Putin from Iran's supreme leader and president.

"Russia is today on the right side of history and international law," said Araqchi.

It was unclear, however, what Russia might do to support Iran, an important ally with which Putin signed a strategic cooperation treaty in January. That agreement did not include a mutual defence clause.

Before Saturday's US strikes, Moscow had warned that US military intervention could destabilise the entire region and plunge it into the "abyss".

Asked what Russia was ready to do to help Tehran, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: "It all depends on what Iran needs". He said the fact that Moscow had offered to mediate in the crisis was itself a form of support.

Peskov condemned the US attacks. "An increase in the number of participants in this conflict is happening - or rather, has happened. A new spiral of escalation of tension in the region," Peskov told reporters.

"And, of course, we condemn this and express regret in this regard, deep regret. In addition, of course, it remains to be seen what happened to (Iran's) nuclear facilities, whether there is a radiation hazard."

Meanwhile, Pakistan condemned on Sunday the strikes ordered on its neighbour Iran by Donald Trump, a day after Islamabad had said it would nominate the US President for the Nobel Peace Prize.

Pakistan on Sunday said Trump's decision to bomb Iranian nuclear facilities violated international law and that diplomacy was the only way to resolve the Iran crisis.

"The unprecedented escalation of tension and violence, owing to ongoing aggression against Iran, is deeply disturbing. Any further escalation of tensions will have severely damaging implications for the region and beyond," Pakistan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.

Also on Sunday, Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif telephoned Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and "conveyed Pakistan's condemnation of the US attacks," a statement from the Pakistani leader said.

Pakistan's information minister and the foreign ministry did not respond to requests for comment on the apparent contradiction in the country's positions over the weekend.

In Pakistan's biggest city, Karachi, thousands marched in protest against the US and Israeli strikes on Iran.


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