Vladimir Putin shakes hands with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Aragchi during a meeting in the Kremlin on 23 June 2025. Photo: kremlin.ru

Vladimir Putin condemned the US strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities in a meeting with the country’s Foreign Minister Abbas Aragchi on Monday, the Kremlin has reported.

“The absolutely unprovoked aggression against Iran has no grounds and no justification,” Putin said, adding that Moscow and Tehran had “long-standing, good, reliable relations” and that Russia was doing what it could “to assist the Iranian people”.

Putin added that Russia’s position had been made clear by the country’s Foreign Ministry, which condemned the US strikes in a separate statement on Sunday, saying that Washington’s “irresponsible decision to subject the territory of a sovereign state to missile and bomb strikes, no matter what arguments are used, grossly violates international law”.

In turn, Araghchi called the “acts of aggression” being carried out by Israel and the US “completely illegitimate”, saying they violated international rules and norms. “We are defending our sovereignty and the country,” Araghchi said, according to the Kremlin.

Araghchi was visiting Moscow after American airstrikes targeted three of Iran’s most fortified nuclear facilities — Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan — using B-2 stealth bombers equipped with bunker-buster munitions and long-range cruise missiles early on Sunday in an operation codenamed Midnight Hammer.

Confirming the strikes on Truth Social in the early hours of Sunday, US President Donald Trump described the US bombing operation as “very successful”, called on Iran to cease fighting, and vowed that any retaliation by Tehran would be met with “far greater” force.

Israel first attacked Iran in the latest round of fighting between the two countries on 13 June. The stated goal of the Israeli strikes is to take out Tehran’s nuclear programme as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government claims that Iran is getting ever closer to having a nuclear bomb.