Iran’s Foreign Minister Calls Kyiv, Refers To Russian ‘Attack’
Fars News highlighted Friday a phone conversation between Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and his Ukrainian counterpart Dymytro Kuleba.
Fars News highlighted Friday a phone conversation between Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and his Ukrainian counterpart Dymytro Kuleba.
In a long piece, the agency used the term “attack” for Russia’s intervention in Ukraine, rather than referring to a “crisis” as state-owned media has generally done. Fars also stressed Amir-Abdollahian had dismissed Monday’s claim from United States National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan that Tehran was preparing to send drones, some armed, to Moscow to help its military effort.
UPDATE - Later, the White House released satellite photos and information that Russian military officials visited an Iranian drone base in Kerman to review military UAVs.
This was the fourth phone conversation between the two men, Fars explained, during the crisis, the first before hostilities began in February and three since then.
The agency suggested Amir-Abdollahian had played a mediating role conveying messages between the two sides, including during his trip to Moscow in mid-March and at the meeting of Afghanistan’s neighbors in China, which was March 30-31.
In Friday’s call, Fars reported, Amir-Abdollahian expressed “opposition to Russia’s attack on Ukraine” and reiterated that Iran had “tried to stop this war” and facilitate diplomacy between the two sides. This was in line, the foreign minister had explained, with Iran’s opposition to wars in Afghanistan, Yemen and Palestine.
The foreign minister pointed out that Sullivan’s claims about drones had coincided with “Biden’s trip to occupied Palestine” and said they had been made “simply for political ends.” Fars noted that Iran’s foreign ministry had already stated that while Tehran had “different areas of cooperation with Russia, including defense,” it would take military side and had also made clear its belief that the war in Ukraine should end with a ceasefire.
‘Nato tools,’ grain supplies
Fars also noted the interests of arms producers in “some western countries, trying to sell products,” and reminded readers that at his joint press conference in Tehran June 22-3 with Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov Amir-Abdollahian had condemned the US “using Nato tools” as one of the roots of the conflict, a reference to the alliance’s expansion in eastern Europe since 1999.
While Iran has far more imports from Russia than from Ukraine, like many other countries it is feeling the inflationary pinch of disruption in supplies. Iranian Oil Minister Javad Owji told the semi-official Iranian news agency the Young Journalists Club in May that Iran expected to import 5 million tonnes of grain, including some wheat, from Russia in the Iranian year ending March 2023. Tehran’s domestic wheat production is being hampered by low rainfall.
It was also noteworthy that Fars made no mention of the disputween the two countries over the Ukrainian airliner shot down in 2020 over Tehran by two missiles fired by the IRGC. Ukrain had been pursuing the case for a full accounting by Tehran and compensation before the Russian invasion.
An early end to the Ukraine war would not only ease pressure on the Iranian economy but placate those Iranians who have taken up the Ukrainian case, with some gathering outside the Russian embassy in Tehran back in February to chant “death to Putin.” The conservative Jomhouri Eslami newspaper has been firm in backing Ukraine’s cause and condemning Moscow.
A former Foreign Ministry director general Ghasem Mohebali told Nameh News that the coalition which is likely to be formed in the Middle East against Iran during Biden's visit can lead to an increase in Iran's military expenditure and is likely to have negative economic, security and probably military implications for Iran.
According to Nameh News, although some of Iran's hardliner media have claimed that the visit has already proven to be futile, others are still worried about its implications, particularly in re-aligning relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia. What is certain is that the situation is highly sensitive, and Tehran's reaction can be important.
Mohebali said that the fact Biden's article in the Washington Post before his visit, and the fact that the latest round of indirect talks between Iran and the United States in Doha failed, provide a good opportunity for the opponents of the Iran nuclear deal, including Israel and Saudi Arabia to impose more costs on Iran by masterminding new developments in the region.
He added that Iran failed to use the divide between the United States on the one hand and Israel and Saudi Arabia on the other during the Biden administration’s first months in office. Now the situation has changed as the Washington needs Saudi Arabia's oil, Mohebali said. He also argued that Iran can benefit from Washington's need for energy too, but Tehran should reach an agreement first. Otherwise, US sanctions will remain in place and the population will continue to suffer.
International affairs analyst Adnan Tabatabai told the moderate conservative website Khabar Online on July 14, that Biden's regional tour can provide Iran with a strategic opportunity.
Tabatabai said, the main objectives of Biden's visit are discussing Saudi Arabia's oil production and export policies as well as the security of the Middle East and particularly the Persian Gulf region.
The visit marks the United States' renewed interest in the Middle East where oil can play a key part for the West's security. Meanwhile, the visit is likely to pave the way for the creation of what was previously called the Arab NATO or an alliance between Western and Arab states. Meanwhile, Iran perceives a threat resulting from the strengthening of diplomatic and political ties between Israel and Saudi Arabia.
Tabatabai said that following Biden's characterization of Iran as a security threat, Iran is likely to escalate its negative approach to Biden's visit. On the other hand, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates are still annoyed by the hesitant US reaction to the 2019 missile and drone attack on Aramco facilities.
The lingering hard feelings in Riadh and Abu Dhabi, said Tabatabai, might provide a strategic opportunity for Iran to continue its talks with Saudi Arabia and the UAE.
Meanwhile, proreform daily Arman Melli wrote in its Thursday edition that Iran's nuclear program and reports about Tehran sending "hundreds of drones" to Russia to help Moscow in its war against Ukraine are likely to be on the agenda of Biden's talks during his regional tour. The daily said Putin's probable visit To Iran next week could be Moscow's answer to Biden's regional tour. The daily quoted analyst Ali Asghar Zargar as saying that "Moscow believes Iran is its winning card in its confrontation with the West."