Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov was in Tehran on Monday to “discuss de-escalation steps” with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and President Masoud Pezeshkian after the Arab states of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) pressured Russia to do more to halt Iran’s attacks on other Middle Eastern countries.
Lavrov was nominally in Tehran to promote Russia’s public stance about resolving regional issues through “dialogue” — but the day before he flew to Iran, he met with GCC foreign ministers in Bahrain and they asked Russia to “play an active role in pressing Tehran” to stop attacking its neighbors.
GCC Secretary-General Jasem al-Budaiwi was especially critical of Iran’s proxy in Yemen, the Houthis, using drones and missiles to attack civilian airports and energy facilities in Saudi Arabia. He also complained about Iran’s attacks on commercial vessels in the Strait of Hormuz, which have escalated over the past few days.
Lavrov responded with assurances that Russia values its trade and diplomatic ties with the GCC, but he declined to use Russia’s influence with Iran and blamed the “unprovoked act of aggression” by the U.S. and Israel against Iran for all of the region’s current difficulties.
“Our concept is specifically designed to foster conditions for direct dialogue among the Gulf’s coastal states and their neighbors, such as Iraq and Jordan,” the Russian foreign minister said before departing for Tehran.
Iranian Defense Minister Mehrdad Ketabchi, approved for his position by the Iranian parliament on Sunday, said that Iran was prepared to respond if the United States uses its most powerful conventional warhead, the “Mother of All Bombs,” in new strikes.
“We have taken the necessary measures for this scenario, and we are at ease. We proceed with our work with full confidence,” Ketabchi said.
“[President Donald Trump] ought to be thinking about how to get his forces out of our region safely. If he drops a single bomb, he will have to consider how many of his troops will end up being carried out of the region in a horizontal position,” he sneered.
Araghchi likewise taunted Trump about the perils of renewed hostility: “Last time you wanted to ‘finish the job,’ Iran emerged even stronger. Want to try your luck again? Be our guest. But be careful; we have unfinished jobs too.”
Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) adviser Brig. Gen. Mohammad Reza Naqdi on Sunday claimed Iran has a new super-weapon ready to deploy against the United States and Israel.
“We have readied the father of our missiles, and should the enemy make any misstep, its attack is doomed to failure, and there will be no way out for them,” Naqdi said.
“In case of any miscalculation, all infrastructure platforms and energy investments belonging to the aggressors in the region will be within operational range, and their security will be directly jeopardized,” he threatened.
Lavrov remained uncritical of Iran after his meeting with Araghchi on Monday, instead saying that Russia remains committed to the 20-year strategic partnership with Iran that formally began on October 2, promising to protect Iran against future attacks.
“The timing of visits to the Gulf monarchies and Iran, taking place almost simultaneously, is a deliberate signal: Moscow wants to show that it approaches relations with all these countries on broadly equal terms and is equally interested in cooperation with each of them,” Middle East analyst Nikita Smagin told Al Jazeera News on Monday.
Smagin said Russia probably did not want the Iran conflict to escalate any further, since that could jeopardize Russia’s relations with other Middle Eastern states — but Moscow might not be eager for the conflict to end right away because the lack of Middle Eastern crude oil products on the market was a boon to Russia’s oil sales and profits.
This stance could be frustrating for President Trump, who gave Russia exemptions from some oil sanctions and signed a deal to import Russian diesel fuel last week. Writing on Truth Social on Sunday afternoon, Trump said one of the reasons he decided to give Moscow these benefits was that “Russia is doing very little, if anything, to help the Islamic Republic of Iran, compared to what they could be doing, and I want to keep it that way.”
