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Putin meets with Iranian President Raisi
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Putin says: all sides must show restraint
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Putin warns: new confrontation could be catastrophic
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Putin says Palestinian-Israeli conflict must be resolved
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Raïssi: we do not want an escalation after the strikes against Israel
(Adds Iranian reading I, paragraphs 7-8)
By Guy Faulconbridge and Parisa Hafezi
MOSCOW/DUBAI, April 16 (Reuters) – Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday urged all parties in the Middle East to refrain from any action that could trigger a new confrontation which he said would have serious consequences for the region , declared the Kremlin.
Putin, who has forged much closer ties with the Islamic Republic since sending troops to Ukraine in 2022, spoke by telephone with Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi about what the Kremlin called “retaliatory measures taken by Iran.
Iran launched drones and missiles at Israel on Saturday evening in retaliation for an Israeli strike on its Damascus consulate on April 1 that killed seven Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps officers, including two senior commanders.
Putin, in his first public comments on the Iranian attack, said the root cause of the current instability in the Middle East was the unresolved conflict between the Palestinians and Israel.
“Vladimir Putin expressed hope that all parties would show reasonable restraint and prevent a new round of confrontation fraught with catastrophic consequences for the entire region,” the Kremlin said.
“Ebrahim Raisi stressed that Iran’s actions were forced and limited in nature,” the Kremlin said. “At the same time, he underlined Tehran’s disinterest in a further escalation of tensions.”
Tehran gave a slightly different reading of the call, with state media quoting Raisi as saying that Iran would respond more harshly, broadly and more painfully than ever to any action against Iranian interests.
Iranian state media quoted Putin as calling Tehran’s response to Israel the best way to punish the aggressor and a manifestation of the wisdom of Iran’s leaders.
Russia, which has forged close ties with both Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and Arab leaders such as Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, has repeatedly criticized the West for ignoring the need for an independent Palestinian state within the 1967 borders.
“Both sides stated that the root cause of current events in the Middle East is the unresolved Israeli-Palestinian conflict,” the Kremlin said of the call with Raisi.
“In this regard, the principled approaches of Russia and Iran in favor of an immediate ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, relief of the difficult humanitarian situation and the creation of conditions for “a political and diplomatic settlement of the crisis have been confirmed.”
Putin, who visited Khamenei in 2022, congratulated Raisi and all Muslims on the end of the holy month of Ramadan.
Top U.S. generals say growing partnerships between Russia, China, Iran and North Korea pose one of the most dangerous challenges facing the United States over the past four decades.
Iran has supplied Russia with large numbers of powerful surface-to-surface ballistic missiles and drones that Moscow has used in Ukraine. (Reporting by Reuters; writing by Guy Faulconbridge; editing by Andrew Osborn and Jonathan Oatis)
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