Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday denounced the U.S. military strike on nuclear sites in Iran as 'unjustified' and 'baseless', saying Moscow is working to support the Iranian people.
During a joint news conference in Moscow with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, Putin criticized the U.S. airstrikes—known as Operation Midnight Hammer—which targeted three Iranian nuclear facilities. He described the action as “aggression carried out entirely without reason or any basis.”
“I’m glad you are here in Moscow today,” Putin told Araghchi. “It gives us the opportunity to discuss these pressing issues and think together about how to move forward.”
Araghchi said Iran was exercising its legitimate right to self-defense and thanked Russia for condemning the U.S. attack. He delivered greetings from Iran’s supreme leader and president, and praised Russia’s stance. “Russia today stands on the right side of history and international law,” Araghchi said.
Russia and Iran have strengthened ties since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Tehran has provided Russia with military support, including drones used in strikes against Ukraine’s interior. In January, the two countries signed a strategic cooperation agreement, though it did not include a mutual defense clause. It is unclear what assistance Moscow may offer Tehran at this stage, especially after Putin said the reason he's not providing war aid to Iran is because 'Israel is almost a Russian-speaking country'.
Prior to the American strikes over the weekend, Russia warned that any U.S. military intervention in Iran could destabilize the region. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Monday that Russia's support would “depend entirely on Iran’s needs.” He added that Moscow had offered to serve as a mediator in the crisis.
China, a country that has helped stock Iran's ballistic arsenal, also joined in condemning the United States, stating that the strikes undermined Washington’s credibility and risked sparking wider conflict. At a U.N. Security Council meeting Sunday, Chinese Ambassador Fu Cong urged restraint from all sides and called on Israel to “immediately cease fire to prevent escalation and avoid regional expansion of the war.”
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Fu said both Iran and the United States had suffered damage — the former from the military action, the latter from a blow to its credibility in international diplomacy. Late Sunday, the Chinese state-run Global Times published an editorial describing the U.S. move as “dangerous and provocative.” The editorial argued that foreign military intervention never leads to peace, but instead “deepens hatred and trauma in the region.”
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said Monday that attacking nuclear facilities monitored by the International Atomic Energy Agency — as Iran’s were — constitutes “a serious violation of the U.N. Charter.” Guo said Beijing intends to enhance communication with all parties and play “a constructive role” in restoring peace in the Middle East.
North Korea, an ally of both China and Russia and a longtime adversary of the United States, also condemned the strike. Pyongyang’s Foreign Ministry, headed by Foreign Minister Choe Son-Hui, said the United States and Israel were to blame for the current crisis in the region, calling it the result of “reckless acts of war and territorial expansion” by Israel — actions it claimed were “endorsed and encouraged by the West.”
Iran and North Korea maintain close ties and have long been suspected of cooperating militarily, including in the development of ballistic missile technology.