Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday slammed attacks on Iran as “unprovoked” and “unjustified” in a meeting with Tehran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, but did not announce any concrete support for his key ally in the Middle East.

Moscow is a crucial backer of Iran, but has not swung forcefully behind its partner even as the United States launched strikes on its nuclear facilities over the weekend.

“This absolutely unprovoked aggression against Iran is unjustified,” Putin said to Araghchi in televised remarks at the start of their meeting.

Putin did not single out the US attacks, talking instead broadly of “strikes” against Iran, though the Kremlin had earlier Monday said it condemned and regretted the US strikes.

“There has been a new escalation of tensions in the region, and, of course, we condemn this and express our deep regret in this regard,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters shortly before Putin met Araghchi in the Kremlin.

Putin has pitched himself as a mediator between Iran and Israel — which launched the offensive on Iran earlier this month — an idea rejected by US President Donald Trump last week.

Araghchi told Putin that Russia has been a “partner and companion” to Tehran and hailed ties between Tehran and Moscow as “very close and longstanding.”

“Iran is exercising legitimate defense against these aggressions,” he added.

Since Israel launched its wave of strikes on June 13, triggering Iranian reprisal attacks with ballistic missiles and drones, Russia has not publicly offered military help to Tehran.

Putin and other officials have also downplayed Moscow’s obligations under a sweeping strategic partnership agreement signed with Tehran just months ago, highlighting that it is not a mutual defense pact.

Russia was “making efforts to help the Iranian people,” Putin said in the meeting, without elaborating.

Asked what specific support Russia might offer, Peskov told reporters: “It all depends on what Iran needs. We have offered our mediation services.”

Peskov also said the US strikes on Iran would not affect bilateral relations between Moscow and Washington, saying they were “different issues.”

US President Donald Trump and Israel have publicly speculated about killing Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and about regime change, a step Russia warns could further destabilize the Middle East.

Araghchi was due to deliver a letter from Khamenei to Putin, seeking the latter’s backing, a senior source told Reuters.

Iran has not been impressed with Russia’s support so far, Iranian sources told Reuters, and the country wants Putin to do more to back it against Israel and the United States. The sources did not elaborate on what assistance Tehran wanted.

But Putin, whose army is fighting a major war of attrition in Ukraine for the fourth year, has shown little appetite for a confrontation with the US over Iran, just as Trump seeks to repair ties with Moscow.

Putin said last week that Iran had not requested any support from Russia.

Putin has repeatedly offered to mediate between the US and Iran, and has conveyed Moscow’s ideas on resolving the conflict to them while ensuring Iran’s access to civil nuclear energy.

Putin said Israel had given Moscow assurances on the safety of Russian specialists helping to build two more reactors at the Bushehr nuclear power plant in Iran during airstrikes.

While Moscow has bought weapons from Iran for its war in Ukraine and signed a 20-year strategic partnership deal with Tehran earlier this year, their relationship — which spans centuries — has at times been troubled.

Inside Russia, there were calls for Russia to support Iran in the same way Washington has supported Ukraine — including with air defense systems, missiles and satellite intelligence.

At the UN Security Council on Sunday, Russia, China and Pakistan proposed the 15-member body adopt a resolution calling for an immediate and unconditional ceasefire in the Middle East after the US strikes.

Russia’s UN Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia recalled former US secretary of state Colin Powell making the case at the UN Security Council in 2003 that Iraqi president Saddam Hussein constituted an imminent danger to the world because of the country’s stockpiles of chemical and biological weapons.

“Again we’re being asked to believe the US’s fairy tales, to once again inflict suffering on millions of people living in the Middle East. This cements our conviction that history has taught our US colleagues nothing,” he said.

The US strikes on Sunday came a week into Israel’s sweeping assault, which began June 13, targeting Iran’s top military leaders, nuclear scientists, uranium enrichment sites, and the country’s ballistic missile program.

Israel says the campaign is necessary to prevent the Islamic Republic from realizing its declared plan to destroy the Jewish state.

Iran, which avowedly seeks Israel’s destruction, has consistently denied seeking to acquire nuclear weapons. However, it has enriched uranium to levels that have no peaceful application, has obstructed international inspectors from checking its nuclear facilities, and expanded its ballistic missile capabilities. Israel says Iran has recently taken steps toward weaponization.

Iran has retaliated to Israel’s attacks by launching over 550 ballistic missiles and around 1,000 drones at Israel. So far, Iran’s missile attacks have killed 24 people and wounded thousands in Israel, according to health officials and hospitals. Some of the missiles have hit apartment buildings, a university and a hospital, causing heavy damage.