There is currently no agreement for the phone call between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Iran's new supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov shared with Russian news agency TASS on July 20. "There is no specific agreement for such a phone call. Therefore, we cannot say anything clearly at this time. But, of course, President Putin is ready for such contacts" - Mr. Peskov said.
Previously, an Iranian source told TASS that the first international contact of Iranian Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei could be a phone call or a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Mr. Mojtaba Khamenei became the supreme leader of Iran after his father - late supreme leader Ali Khamenei - passed away due to missile attacks by the US and Israel targeting Iran starting on February 28.
Iranian Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei was born in 1969 in the sacred city of Mashhad in Iran. After the Iranian Islamic Revolution in 1979, his family moved to the capital Tehran. After graduating from high school, he joined the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and served in the late stages of the Iran-Iraq War. Later, he studied religion in the city of Qom in central Iran and became a political assistant to his father.
According to many sources in Iranian media, for a long time, Mr. Mojtaba Khamenei has supported his father in handling important state issues, has a "deep understanding" of major administrative issues and maintains working relationships with many senior officials in governments as well as senior military commanders. For many years, he has been considered by many as the leading candidate to succeed Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei even though he is always tight-lipped in public.
Since being chosen as Iran's Supreme Leader in early March 2026, Mr. Mojtaba Khamenei has not officially appeared in public. At the time Iran announced the appointment of Mr. Mojtaba Khamenei as the new Supreme Leader, Russian President Vladimir Putin was one of the first foreign leaders to send congratulations. President Putin declared that Russia has been and will remain Iran's reliable partner.
