Russia, China offer condolences after death of Iranian president – ​​POLITICO

“As a true friend of Russia, he made an invaluable personal contribution to the establishment of good-neighborly relations between our two countries and made great efforts to elevate them to the level of strategic partnership,” it reads. in Putin’s letter, published on the Kremlin website.

“I was lucky enough to meet Ebrahim Raisi more than once and I will always remember him as the most wonderful person,” the letter reads.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin told a news conference that Raisi’s death was “a great loss for the Iranian people, and the Chinese people have lost a good friend.”

The Iranian regime is a strategic ally of both Moscow and Beijing. Last month, EU officials accused the country of being prepared to supply Russia with ballistic missiles as part of its ongoing invasion of Ukraine. China is a major buyer of Iranian oil, supporting the country’s proxy war with Israel, according to Western intelligence officials.

Tensions are already high in the region after Iran last month exchanged direct missile fire with Israel, which bombed the Iranian embassy in Syria. The Iranian retaliation, which injured a seven-year-old Bedouin girl, was the country’s first direct attack on Israeli soil.

Iran is a strong supporter of the Palestinian militant group Hamas, designated as a terrorist organization in the United Kingdom, the European Union and the United States, because it has clashed with Israeli forces in the besieged Gaza enclave. Iran has also armed and financed the Lebanese group Hezbollah and the Houthi rebels in Yemen, both of whom continue to launch air attacks against Israel.