'Many Nations Ready To Supply Tehran With Nuclear Warheads': Putin Aide As Iran’s Foreign Min Heads To Moscow

Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi announced on Sunday that he would be travelling to Moscow for high-level discussions with Russian President Vladimir Putin, following the 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, Araghchi confirmed that talks with President Putin were scheduled for Monday morning.

Photo Credit: AP, x.com/araghchi

The announcement comes in the wake of the United States striking three major Iranian nuclear sites, a move Washington has described as a "necessary step" to prevent Iran from developing 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 airstrikes, authorised by US President Donald Trump, were carried out late on Saturday night, marking the ninth day of an Israeli-led aerial campaign aimed at dismantling Iran's nuclear infrastructure.

US officials stated the attacks were intended to disable Iran's alleged nuclear weapons programme.

The Iranian foreign minister strongly condemned the strikes, calling them a flagrant breach of international law and declaring that the United States had "crossed a very big red line by attacking nuclear facilities." He warned that Iran would invoke its right to self-defence under Article 51 of the United Nations Charter, adding, "We have to respond."

Medvedev: "Trump Has Started Another War"

In Moscow, former Russian President and current Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council, Dmitry Medvedev, issued a sharp rebuke of President Trump, accusing him of dragging the United States into another war in the Middle East. Posting on Telegram, Medvedev stated bluntly, "Trump, who came in as a peacemaker president, has started a new war for the U.S."

The ex-president questioned the strategic effectiveness of the US operation, asserting that it had not met its intended 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."

He went further to claim, without naming specific countries, that "a number of countries are ready to directly supply Iran with their own nuclear warheads."

Medvedev also commented on the wider regional fallout, saying that the Israeli public now lived under constant threat amid explosions across multiple locations. "The US is now entangled in a new conflict, with prospects of a ground operation looming on the horizon," he added.

According to Medvedev, the strikes had ultimately bolstered Tehran's position. "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

Araghchi rejected any notion that Iran might resume diplomatic talks under the present circumstances.

"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 noted that negotiations with European mediators had been ongoing in Geneva just two days before the strikes. "And again, this time, Americans decided to blow it up," he added. "So it was not Iran, but the US who betrayed diplomacy. They betrayed negotiations."

Iran's chief diplomat argued that the Trump administration had disqualified itself from any future peace process. "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," Araghchi said.