Russian Deputy Chairman of the Security Council Dmitry Medvedev has just led a Russian delegation to Iran to attend the funeral of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.
Sharing with the press after the visit, Mr. Dmitry Medvedev said that the US attack on Iran is "completely unwarranted" and Washington has no basis to take military action.
There is no serious reason for the US to attack. The actions that the US is taking are completely groundless. Iran is not threatening the US. Moreover, this country was still negotiating with the US delegation at that time and aiming to reach some agreements" - Mr. Medvedev said.
He said Washington is taking military action in the context of no direct threat from Tehran and the two sides are still negotiating. "This is a regrettable reality, in essence showing that the international legal system is being broken," he said.
According to the former Russian President, the US takes Iran's nuclear program as a reason for action. That is a topic that has been debated for many years.
But honestly, no one has ever provided concrete evidence. It all stopped at joint discussions about how Iran's nuclear material is treated. Meanwhile, the Russian Federation, especially our head of state, has proposed options that can resolve this issue peacefully" - Mr. Medvedev said.
Also in the interview, Mr. Medvedev said that Iran currently possesses a weapon with no less power than nuclear weapons, which is the ability to control the Strait of Hormuz.
In a sense, Iran has found another type of weapon instead of nuclear weapons, which is the Strait of Hormuz," the Russian official said. He pointed out that just blockading this strait, Iran has shown its strength and currently discussions and agreements are focused on how this strait will be operated in the future.
Russian Deputy Chairman of the Security Council Dmitry Medvedev noted that, in addition to the Strait of Hormuz, Tehran still has another "thermal card" - the Bab el-Mandeb Strait.
If a military conflict occurs, this route may be disrupted, causing oil transportation and other maritime routes to be almost paralyzed. I hope that will not happen, but every country that wants to pursue conflict in the region needs to remember this" - the Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council emphasized.
Also in an exchange with the press, Mr. Medvedev affirmed that all unilateral restrictions imposed on Russia are illegal and should not even be called sanctions.
According to the United Nations Charter and other international treaties, these measures have no legal basis. Therefore, we do not even call them sanctions but only consider them unilateral, illegal restrictive measures," he said.
Mr. Medvedev also said that countries subject to such unilateral restrictive measures can establish a community to coordinate the development of countermeasures, and at the same time apply corresponding retaliatory measures. He noted that this initiative was proposed by Iranian Justice Minister Amin Hossein Rahimi at the St. Petersburg Legal Forum a few years ago.
