Iranian officials on Wednesday showed their readiness to play a mediation role between Ukraine and Russia to end the war, after Kiev has harshly charged Tehran over its delivery of drones to the Russian Army.
The secretary of the Iranian Supreme National Security Council, Ali Shamjani, has conveyed this availability to the secretary of the Russian Security Council, Nikolai Patrushev, within the framework of a meeting held in the Iranian capital.
«Iran welcomes and supports any initiative for a ceasefire and peace between Russia and Ukraine, based on dialogue, and is ready to play a role in ending the war,» Shamjani said, Iran’s Tasnim news agency reported.
He stressed that dialogue and international cooperation are the only way to solve crises in the region and in the world and called for uniting positions to confront terrorism and extremism at the international level.
Shamjani also stressed the importance of cooperation between Tehran and Moscow in the fields of energy, transport, agriculture and trade, among other issues, and called for the removal of sanctions against both countries that hinder these ties.
Shamjani’s statements come just three days after Ukrainian President Volodimir Zelenski accused Iran of prolonging the war in Ukraine by supplying Russia with weapons, assuring that if it were not for this «help», it would be closer to peace.
Iran admitted over the weekend to having delivered drones to Russia, although it qualified that this was before the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. However, Zelenski called on the entire international community to punish Iranian «complicity» with «Russian terror».
