Why Iran’s top diplomat is in Russia

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi arrived in St. Petersburg, Russia on Monday ahead of planned talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Iranian state media reported. During their meeting, Araghchi and Putin will focus on “coordinating interactions and advancing joint programs at the regional and international levels,” Tehran’s ambassador to Mocow, Kazem Jalali, said in a post on X Sunday. Russia and Iran are longstanding partners and Moscow has been a critical diplomatic ally for Tehran throughout the war with the US. The Kremlin has offered to take custody of Iran’s enriched uranium — proposing to store or reprocess it on Russian soil — though Trump reportedly rejected the offer. Beyond uranium, Iran and Russia signed a 20-year treaty in January 2025 strengthening their economic, military and political partnership. Russia views US strikes on Iran as “unprovoked aggression,” but crucially, the agreement signed by Tehran and Moscow stopped short of a mutual-defense pact. Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said he “highly appreciated” Islamabad’s mediation efforts between Iran and the US in a recent call with his Pakistani counterpart Mohammad Ishaq Dar, while voicing Moscow’s “readiness to contribute.” In March, CNN reported that Russia was providing Iran with intelligence about the locations and movements of American troops, ships and aircraft, according to multiple people familiar with US intelligence reporting on the issue – the first indication that Moscow sought to get involved in the war. Russia is the latest stop on Araghchi’s overseas tour, which also included meetings with key mediators in Pakistan and Oman on Sunday. The post Why Iran’s top diplomat is in Russia appeared first on Egypt Independent.