Moscow, July 22: Russian President Vladimir Putin held a surprise meeting with Ali Larijani, top adviser to Iran’s Supreme Leader on nuclear affairs, to discuss the escalating tensions in the Middle East and Iran’s atomic programme, the Kremlin said on Sunday.
The unannounced meeting in the Kremlin comes amid heightened regional instability following the U.S. decision to join Israel’s bombing campaign against Iran in June. While Moscow maintains strong ties with Tehran’s clerical leadership, it has refrained from fully endorsing Iran’s position in the ongoing conflict.
“Mr. Larijani conveyed assessments of the escalating situation in the Middle East and around the Iranian nuclear programme,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters. “President Putin reiterated Russia’s well-known positions on stabilising the region and reaching a political solution to the Iranian nuclear issue.”
Russia has long supported a negotiated resolution over Iran’s nuclear activities and has pushed back on Western pressure, while balancing its interests in the Gulf.
Separately, a German diplomatic source confirmed on Sunday that Britain, France and Germany are preparing to hold fresh talks with Iran in the coming days. Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency also reported that Tehran had agreed to the European proposal for new discussions, citing an unnamed source.
The diplomatic flurry comes days after Russia rejected a report by U.S. media outlet Axios, which alleged that Putin had encouraged Tehran to accept a deal with Washington that would limit its uranium enrichment. The Kremlin called the report unfounded.
Iran has consistently denied pursuing nuclear weapons, insisting on its legitimate right to peaceful nuclear energy under international law. Tensions over Iran’s nuclear programme have intensified since the collapse of the 2015 nuclear deal following the U.S. withdrawal in 2018. Efforts to revive the agreement have stalled, even as the region witnesses escalating hostilities.
