The Kremlin said on Friday that Russian President Vladimir Putin has stepped in to help ease rising tensions around Iran, following separate calls with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian.
In his call with Netanyahu, the Kremlin said that Putin had shown willingness to “continue mediation efforts and to promote constructive dialogue with the participation of all interested states.”
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On a subsequent call with Pezeshkian, Putin was briefed on Tehran’s “sustained efforts” to stabilize the situation in Iran.
Iranian authorities’ deadly crackdown on protesters has seen an estimated 2,000 people killed in the most severe unrest since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, as well as an internet blackout which has lasted for more than 180 hours.
“It was noted that Russia and Iran unanimously and consistently support de-escalating the tensions, both surrounding Iran and in the region as a whole, as soon as possible and resolving any emerging issues through exclusively political and diplomatic means,” the Kremlin said.
Russia, which has nurtured close ties with Tehran since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, has also criticized US President Donald Trump’s warnings of possible new military action after Iranian authorities moved to suppress protests that erupted late last month.
Moscow silent amid allies’ woes
If the protests were to succeed in bringing down the Iranian leadership, it would mark the third key Moscow ally to be toppled in just over a year, alongside Syria and Venezuela.
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Despite this, with Iran’s government facing one of its most serious internal challenges in decades and the possibility of US military intervention looming, Moscow has so far stopped short of offering tangible assistance to Tehran.
Putin has also made no reference to the US seizure of a Russian-flagged oil tanker from the so-called shadow fleet, has not spoken publicly about the capture of key ally Nicolas Maduro, and has similarly kept quiet on Washington’s threats against Cuba.
Instead, on Thursday, the Russian president offered a cautious, general statement, saying: “The situation on the international stage is increasingly deteriorating – I don’t think anyone would argue with that – long-standing conflicts are intensifying, and new serious flashpoints are emerging.”
And though he criticised the “monologue” of “those who, by the right of might, consider it permissible to dictate their will, lecture others, and issue orders,” Putin did not refer to US President Donald Trump or Washington by name.
Analysts have suggested that Russia’s heavy expenditure of resources in Ukraine has left it unable to shield its allies, exposing them to mounting geopolitical pressures.
It has also been posited that Putin is wary of a direct confrontation with a capricious Washington that could ultimately expand its support for Kyiv.
“Inconsistency” of the West
Moscow on Thursday did, however, criticize the West for claiming that Russia and China pose a threat to Greenland, adding that the dispute over the territory exposed what it described as double standards among Western powers.
“First they came up with the idea that there were some aggressors, and then that they were ready to protect someone from these aggressors,” Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said.
“There are no facts indicating the aggressive plans of Russia and China, nor can there be any,” she continued, adding that the situation “demonstrates with particular acuteness the inconsistency of the so-called ‘rules-based world order’ being built by the West.”