Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov affirmed that Russia supports Iran in the confrontation with the US and Israel mainly for the purpose of protecting international law, not simply for alliance relations.
In an interview with France Télévisions, Mr. Lavrov emphasized that Moscow considers Tehran a strategic partner, but the decisive factor is the principle: "We focus on maintaining international law, not just to protect Iran".
This statement was made after the US and Israel launched attacks on Iran from the end of February, killing many senior leaders, including Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.
Mr. Lavrov also said that Washington is acting based on "personal views" instead of international law. According to him, US military interventions in the past 2 decades - from Iraq, Syria to Libya - have all worsened the situation, and "similar scenarios are repeating with Iran".
The Russian Foreign Minister accused the US of lack of diplomatic goodwill in launching an attack right at the time negotiations with Tehran were taking place. He also said that some US officials publicly praised the attacks as "cold and skeptical".
Regarding information that Russia provided intelligence to Iran, Mr. Lavrov denied it, saying that the media had "exaggerated". According to him, Moscow only provided some military equipment, while the targets that Iran attacked - such as US bases in the Gulf region - were all public information.
