Skt. Petersburg: President Vladimir Putin has refused to talk about claims that Israel and the United States may try to kill Iran’s top leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
He said the Iranian people are standing by their leaders in Tehran.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has openly speculated that Israeli’s military attack could result in regime shifts in Iran, while US President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that the United States knew where Khamenei was “hidden” but that Washington would not kill him “for now.”
When asked what his reaction would be if Israel killed Khamenei with the help of the United States, Putin said, “I will not even discuss this opportunity. I will not.”
When he was pressed, Putin acknowledged that he had heard the comments of possibly killing Khamenei, but reiterated he would not discuss them.
“We see that today in Iran, with all the complexity of the internal political processes that take place there … that there is a consolidation of society around the country’s political leadership,” Putin told Senior news agency editors in the northern Russian city of St Petersburg.
Putin said all sides should look for ways to end hostilities in a way that secured both Iran’s right to peaceful nuclear power and Israel’s right to the unconditional security of the Jewish state.
Putin spoke when Trump kept the world guessing if the United States would join Israeli’s bombardment of Iranian nuclear and missile sites, while residents of Iran’s capital streamed out of town on the sixth day of the air attack.
He said he had been in contact with both Trump and Netanyahu and that Moscow had shared his ideas of resolving the conflict while Iran’s continued access to civilian nuclear energy.
Iranian nuclear facilities
Putin, who was asked about the prospect of regime shifts in Iran, said that, before starting such a path, one has to assess whether the core goal was really reached.
He added that Iran’s underground uranium enrichment facilities remained untouched.
“These underground factories, they exist, nothing has happened to them,” Putin said.
“It looks like it would be right for everyone to look for ways to end hostilities and find trails for all parties in this conflict to reach an agreement,” he said. “In my opinion, such a solution can generally exist.”
When asked Russia, Iran was preparing to give Iran modern weapons to defend against Israeli strikes, Putin said that the strategic partnership agreement signed with Tehran in January did not include military cooperation, and Iran had made no formal request for assistance.
Russian deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said on Wednesday that Moscow called on the United States not to beat Iran and warned that such action would radically destabilize the Middle East.
A spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry also warned that Israeli strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities risked triggering a nuclear disaster.
Putin said Israel had assured Moscow that Russian specialists who helped build two additional reactors at the Bushehr atom power plant in Iran would not be damaged in any air strikes.
He added that Moscow had “a very good relationship with Iran” and that Russia could protect Iran’s interests in the core energy field.
Russia has offered to take enriched uranium from Iran and to supply nuclear fuel to its civilian energy program.
“It is possible to ensure Iran’s interests in peaceful nuclear energy and at the same time tackle Israel’s concern about its security,” Putin said. “We have outlined them (our ideas) to our partners from the US, Israel and Iran.”
