Iran claimed on Wednesday that Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian is visiting Moscow carrying a message from a European leader about the war in Ukraine.
Fars news website affiliated with the Revolutionary Guard claimed that “some European leaders” asked Tehran to mediate with Moscow to contain the Ukraine conflict and explore ways for peace talks and an end to hostilities.
Later, ISNA news in Tehran claimed that the European leader was French President Emmanuel Macron, who asked President Ebrahim Raisi of mediating with Russia.
So far, there has been no indication from European leaders or European Union officials about asking Iran to play a mediating role in the Ukraine war.
The United States has repeatedly accused Iran of supplying military drones to Russia for deployment in Ukraine. A US official said August 29 that drones already delivered to Russia have been faulty.
Mohammad Jamshidi, a political aide to President Ebrahim Raisi has tweeted, A senior Western European leader had asked Ayatollah Raisi to help Europe by mediating in the war. After a series of consultations, a peace initiative, together with an important message, was sent to Moscow through Mr. Amir-Abdollahian.”
In addition to Iranian drones reportedly sent to Russia, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei praised Russian president Vladimir Putin’s “initiative” in attacking Ukraine, during the Russian ruler’s visit to Tehran on July 19.
Although the Iranian foreign ministry has professed the country’s neutrality in the war, Iranian officials and government media have been voicing support for Russia and implicit satisfaction that Europe is facing an energy crisis.
While Iran might be presenting its foreign minister’s visit to Moscow that began Tuesday evening as focusing on the Ukraine war, Iran and the West are in the midst of a critical stage in their nuclear negotiations to revive the 2015 agreement known as the JCPOA. It is likely that Amir-Abdollahian’s visit is mainly about the nuclear issue, but Tehran wants to claim an important role in world diplomacy.
Before the visit, Russia’s foreign ministry said that cooperation between the two countries will continue despite West’s adversarial actions.
There has been concern in the West about expanding ties between the two sanctioned powers and Iran’s possible military assistance to Russia. Tehran has never directly denied accusations of supplying drones to Russia, responding to question by saying that the two countries have had a long history of military cooperation.
Iran and Russia have been close allies in the Syrian war for years, where Tehran supplied the ground troops and Moscow the air power to largely defeat opponents of Syria’s Bashar al-Assad.
The two sides are also discussing more economic cooperation as critics of the nuclear talks in the West say that a new deal and lifting of sanction imposed on Iran, will offer an opportunity to Russia to use that country as a channel to circumvent its own sanctions.