New Delhi: The Foreign Minister of Iran, Abbas Araghchi, visited Moscow today to engage in important negotiations with the President of Russia, Vladimir Putin, regarding the U.S. airstrike on Iranian nuclear sites that provoked an escalation of tensions in the Middle East.
The meeting follows a series of provocative statements made by Dmitry Medvedev, the former President of Russia and deputy chairman of the Security Council, who claimed that U.S. President Donald Trump has pushed America to the brink of a third war. In a series of posts on X, Medvedev asserted that the overwhelming American power attack on Iranian targets of the nuclear site in Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan resulted in minimal destruction, asserting that the damage inflicted on its nuclear sites looked minimal and the critical infrastructure within the nuclear fuel cycle also seemed to have escaped the damage with only slight damage being experienced. He also added that Iran would not discontinue its quest for nuclear weapons, claiming that “several nations are on the verge of directly providing Iran with their own nuclear warheads” without mentioning the names of the countries.
The rhetoric was made stronger by Medvedev, who attacked Trump by mocking his self-proclaimed role as a peacemaker president and stated, “This is a new war that Trump, who already styled himself a peacemaker president, has launched on behalf of the U.S.” He opined that the strikes had politically fortified Iran, stating that the Iranian political regime has survived and, in all likelihood, has emerged stronger. This is seeing the people rally behind the nation’s spiritual leaders and those who were apathetic or angry with them.
In a press conference just prior to his departure to Moscow, Araghchi rebuffed any hopes that nuclear negotiations might restart on their current grounds. He reproached the U.S. for scuttling diplomacy, commenting, “Last week we were negotiating with the U.S. when Israel insisted on blowing up the diplomacy.” When the U.S. chose to blow up that diplomacy, we had a conversation with E3/EU this week. He stressed Iranian strategic alliance with Russia, adding that “Russia is a friend of Iran, and we always consult Russia.”
Three important Iranian nuclear sites were targeted in the U.S. airstrikes on June 21, 2019 that were ordered by President Trump, who proclaimed they were destroyed entirely and completely. There are, however, conflicting reports that it did not cause major damage, with the international atomic energy agency reporting that the entrance to underground tunnels at Isfahan was hit but that it could give no additional judgement on Fordow or Natanz.
Medvedev was also cautious in his regional forecasts when he said, “Israel is being attacked; there are explosions that are shaking the land, and people are fleeing,” stating that the U.S. might be sucked into a ground conflict. His remarks also capture the balancing act that Moscow is involved in as it has relations with Iran as well as Israel and is critical of the U.S. strikes as being against international law.