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Putin Ally Holds Talks in Iran as Middle East Teeters on Brink of Wider War

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu attends a meeting with graduates of Higher military schools at the Kremlin in Moscow on June 21, 2023. (AFP)
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu attends a meeting with graduates of Higher military schools at the Kremlin in Moscow on June 21, 2023. (AFP)
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Putin Ally Holds Talks in Iran as Middle East Teeters on Brink of Wider War

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu attends a meeting with graduates of Higher military schools at the Kremlin in Moscow on June 21, 2023. (AFP)
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu attends a meeting with graduates of Higher military schools at the Kremlin in Moscow on June 21, 2023. (AFP)

A senior ally of President Vladimir Putin arrived in Tehran on Monday for talks with Iranian leaders including the president and top security officials as Iran weighs its response to the killing of a Hamas leader.

Russia has condemned the killing of Ismail Haniyeh, leader of the Palestinian group Hamas, in Iran last week and called on all parties to refrain from steps that could tip the Middle East into a wider regional war.

Sergei Shoigu, the secretary of Russia's security council, was shown by Russia's Zvezda television station meeting Rear Admiral Ali Akbar Ahmadian, a senior Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) commander who serves as secretary of the Supreme National Security Council.

Shoigu, who was Russia's defense minister before being moved to the security council in May, will also meet President Masoud Pezeshkian, Zvezda said.

"In Tehran, the secretary of the Russian Security Council is scheduled to meet with the president, the secretary of the Supreme National Security Council and the head of the General Staff," according to Zvezda TV.

Though Putin has yet to comment in public on the recent escalation of tensions in the Middle East, senior Russian officials have said that those behind the killing of Haniyeh were seeking to scuttle any hope of peace in the Middle East and to draw the United States into military action.

Iran has blamed Israel and said it will "punish" it; Israeli officials have not claimed responsibility. Iran backs Hamas, which is at war with Israel in Gaza, and also the Lebanese group Hezbollah whose senior military commander Fuad Shukr was killed in an Israeli strike on Beirut last week.

Russia has cultivated closer ties with Iran since the start of its war with Ukraine and has said it is preparing to sign a wide-ranging cooperation agreement with Tehran.

Reuters reported in February that Iran had provided Russia with a large number of powerful surface-to-surface ballistic missiles. The United States said in June that Russia appeared to be deepening its defense cooperation with Iran and had received hundreds of one-way attack drones that it was using to strike Ukraine, something Moscow denies.

Russia said last Friday that it joined Iran in condemning the assassination of the Hamas leader and pointing out "the extremely dangerous consequences of such actions". 

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Russia Says US Using Taiwan to Stir Crisis in Asia

Participants wave Taiwanese flags during the Kuomintang (KMT) National Congress in Taoyuan on November 24, 2024. (Photo by Yu Chien Huang / AFP)
Participants wave Taiwanese flags during the Kuomintang (KMT) National Congress in Taoyuan on November 24, 2024. (Photo by Yu Chien Huang / AFP)
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Russia Says US Using Taiwan to Stir Crisis in Asia

Participants wave Taiwanese flags during the Kuomintang (KMT) National Congress in Taoyuan on November 24, 2024. (Photo by Yu Chien Huang / AFP)
Participants wave Taiwanese flags during the Kuomintang (KMT) National Congress in Taoyuan on November 24, 2024. (Photo by Yu Chien Huang / AFP)

The United States is using Taiwan to provoke a serious crisis in Asia, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrei Rudenko told TASS news agency in remarks published on Sunday, reiterating Moscow's backing of China's stance on Taiwan.
"We see that Washington, in violation of the 'one China' principle that it recognises, is strengthening military-political contacts with Taipei under the slogan of maintaining the 'status quo', and increasing arms supplies," Rudenko told the state news agency.
"The goal of such obvious US interference in the region's affairs is to provoke the PRC (People's Republic of China) and generate a crisis in Asia to suit its own selfish interests."
The report did not cite any specific contacts that Rudenko was referring to.
China views democratically governed Taiwan as its own territory, a claim that Taiwan's government rejects. The US is Taiwan's most important international backer and arms supplier, despite the lack of formal diplomatic recognition.
The US State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Rudenko's remarks outside office hours.
In September, President Joe Biden approved $567 million in military support for Taiwan. Russia responded that it was standing alongside China on Asian issues, including criticism of the US drive to extend its influence and "deliberate attempts" to inflame the situation around Taiwan.
China and Russia declared a "no limits" partnership in February 2022 when President Vladimir Putin visited Beijing shortly before launching a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, triggering the deadliest land war in Europe since World War Two.
In May this year, Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping pledged a "new era" of partnership between the two most powerful rivals of the United States, which they cast as an aggressive Cold War hegemon sowing chaos across the world.