Many Nations Ready To Supply Iran With Their Nuclear Warheads: Top Putin Aide
New Delhi:
Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi announced on Sunday that he will travel to Moscow for high-level talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin, following overnight US airstrikes on Iranian nuclear facilities.
Speaking at a press conference on the sidelines of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) summit in Istanbul, Mr Araghchi said the consultations with President Putin would take place Monday morning. The move comes in the immediate aftermath of the US targeting three key Iranian nuclear sites, in what Washington has described as a "necessary step" to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons.
"Russia is a friend of Iran, we always consult with each other," Araghchi told reporters. "I'm going to Moscow this afternoon for serious consultations with the Russian president tomorrow morning."
The strikes, ordered by US President Donald Trump, took place late Saturday night, nine days into an Israeli-led aerial campaign targeting Iranian nuclear infrastructure. U.S. officials claimed the attacks were focused on neutralising Iran's potential nuclear weapons programme.
The Iranian foreign minister condemned the strikes as a gross violation of international law, adding that they had "crossed a very big red line by attacking nuclear facilities." He warned that Tehran would invoke its right to self-defence under Article 51 of the UN Charter. "We have to respond," he said.
Medvedev: "Trump Has Started Another War"
In Moscow, Dmitry Medvedev, ex-Russia president and the Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council, launched an attack on President Trump, accusing him of plunging the United States into a new war in the Middle East. Medvedev published his reaction on Telegram, stating bluntly, "Trump, who came in as a peacemaker president, has started a new war for the U.S."
The former Russian president questioned the effectiveness of the US operation, saying it had failed to achieve any substantial military objectives. "Critical infrastructure of the nuclear fuel cycle appears to have been unaffected or sustained only minor damage," he wrote. "The enrichment of nuclear material - and now we can say it outright, the future production of nuclear weapons - will continue."
In one of his most provocative assertions, Medvedev claimed that "a number of countries are ready to directly supply Iran with their own nuclear warheads." He did not identify which nations he was referring to.
Medvedev further stated that the Israeli population was now living under constant threat, with explosions rocking multiple parts of the country. "The US is now entangled in a new conflict, with prospects of a ground operation looming on the horizon," he added.
He also suggested that the attacks had politically strengthened Iran. "Iran's political regime has survived - and in all likelihood, has come out even stronger. The people are rallying around the country's spiritual leadership, including those who were previously indifferent or opposed to it."
Iran's Position
Mr Araghchi, meanwhile, dismissed any suggestion that Tehran would rejoin diplomatic talks under current conditions. "We were in the middle of diplomacy. We were in the middle of talks with the United States when Israelis blew it up," he said.
He added that negotiations with European interlocutors were ongoing in Geneva just two days prior to the US strikes. "And again, this time, Americans decided to blow it up," he said. "So it was not Iran, but the US who betrayed diplomacy. They betrayed negotiations."
Iran's top diplomat asserted that the Mr Trump administration had effectively disqualified itself from any future peace initiatives. "They have proved that they are not men of diplomacy, and they only understand the language of threat and force. And this is very unfortunate," Mr Araghchi said.
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