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24-03-2026
MOSCOW: Russian President Vladimir Putin congratulated Iranian leaders on Nowruz and said Moscow remained a loyal friend and reliable partner to Tehran, the Kremlin said on Saturday.
The extent of Moscow’s support for Iran, though, is in dispute. Some Iranian sources have said that they have had little real help from Moscow in the biggest crisis for Iran since the US-backed Shah was toppled in the 1979 revolution.
Putin sent congratulations to Iran’ Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on the Iranian New Year, the Kremlin said. “Vladimir Putin wished the Iranian people to overcome the harsh trials with dignity and stressed that in this difficult time Moscow remains a loyal friend and reliable partner of Tehran,” the Kremlin said.
Russia says the US and Israeli attacks on Iran have thrust the entire Middle East into the abyss and triggered a major global energy crisis, while Putin condemned the killing of Iranian Supreme Leader as a “cynical” murder.
Politico reported, opens new tab that Moscow proposed a quid pro quo to Washington; the Kremlin would stop sharing intelligence with Iran if Washington ceased supplying Ukraine with intelligence about Russia but the United States rejected the idea. The Kremlin has dismissed the report as fake.
Russia was deprived of an ally when the United States toppled Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro, though Moscow has benefited from the high oil prices triggered by the US and Israeli attacks on Iran, a strategic partner.
The published strategic partnership does not contain a mutual defence clause, and Russia has repeatedly said that it does not want Iran to develop an atomic bomb, a step that Moscow fears would trigger a nuclear arms race across the Middle East.
Yesterday, Moscow proposed a quid pro quo to the US under which the Kremlin would stop sharing intelligence information with Iran, such as the precise coordinates of US military assets in the Middle East, if Washington ceased supplying Ukraine with Intel about Russia.
Two people familiar with the US-Russia negotiations said that such a proposal was made by Russian envoy Kirill Dmitriev to Trump administration envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner during their meeting last week in Miami.
The US rejected the proposal, the people added. They, like all other officials cited in this article, were granted anonymity due to the sensitivity of the discussions.
Dmitriev labeled the report of the proposal as “fake” in a post on social media.
Nevertheless, the sheer existence of such a proposal has sparked concern among European diplomats, who worry Moscow is trying to drive a wedge between Europe and the US at a critical moment for transatlantic relations.
US President Donald Trump has voiced anger over the refusal of allies to send warships in the Strait of Hormuz. On Friday, he lambasted his NATO allies as “Cowards” and said; “we will remember!”
The White House declined to comment. The Russian Embassy in Washington did not respond to a request for comment.
One EU diplomat called the Russian proposal “outrageous.” The suggested deal is likely to fuel growing suspicions in Europe that the Witkoff-Dmitriev meetings are not delivering concrete progress toward a peace agreement in Ukraine, but are instead seen by Moscow as a chance to lure Washington into a deal between the two powers that leaves Europe on the sidelines.
On Thursday, the Kremlin said that the US-mediated Ukraine peace talks were “on hold.”
Russia has made various proposals about Iran to the US, which has rejected them all, another person familiar with the discussions said. (Int’l Monitoring Desk)
