Vladimir Putin pledged ‘unwavering support’ to Iran‘s new supreme leader, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, appointed after his father and predecessor was killed in US-Israeli strikes.
‘I would like to reaffirm our unwavering support for Tehran and solidarity with our Iranian friends,’ Putin said in a message to Khamenei on Monday, adding that ‘Russia has been and will remain a reliable partner’ to Iran.
‘At a time when Iran is confronting armed aggression, your tenure in this high position will undoubtedly require great courage and dedication,’ the Russian leader said.
The Russian leader had previously voiced support for an ‘immediate’ ceasefire in Iran during a phone call with Iranian counterpart Masoud Pezeshkian on Friday.
‘Russia’s principled position on the need for an immediate cessation of hostilities was reaffirmed,’ the Kremlin said, adding that Putin called for a ‘return to the path of political and diplomatic resolution.’
On Sunday, Russia’s ambassador to the UK, Andrey Kelin, added that his country is ‘not neutral’ in the US/Israeli war with Iran, saying ‘of course’ Moscow supports the hardline Tehran regime.
Iranian state TV confirmed on Sunday that Mojtaba had been named Iran’s next supreme leader.
The 56-year-old was chosen by the 88-seat Assembly of Experts, a group of clerics responsible for selecting Iran’s supreme leader.
Vladimir Putin pictured in 2022 with Ayatollah Ali Khamenei
The son of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Mojtaba Khamenei, has been appointed as his father’s successor
As Supreme Leader, he will now be the commander-in-chief of the regime’s armed forces and appoint the leaders of all military branches, as well as choosing the head of the judiciary.
Iran’s powerful paramilitary Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) also answers to the Supreme Leader, and he will have the final say in the nation’s war strategy.
Also on Monday, China declared it opposes any attempts to target Mojtaba, with foreign ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun telling reporters that Iran’s decision to appoint the younger Khamenei was ‘based on its constitution’.
‘China opposes interference in other countries’ internal affairs under any pretext, and Iran’s sovereignty, security, and territorial integrity should be respected,’ he said when asked about the threats against the new leader.
The comments come after Israel’s Defence Minister Israel Katz threatened to assassinate any Iranian leader picked to succeed supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
In a post on X on Wednesday, Katz said: ‘Any leader selected by the Iranian terror regime to continue leading the plan for Israel’s destruction, threatening the United States, the free world and countries in the region, and suppressing the Iranian people, will be a certain target for assassination, no matter his name or where he hides.’
On Sunday, President Donald Trump said that Iran’s next leader ‘is not going to last long’ without his approval.
In an interview with ABC News prior to Iran’s announcement about appointing Mojtaba, Trump said whoever the Iranians pick as Khamenei’s successor is ‘going to have to get approval from us.’
‘If he doesn’t get approval from us he’s not going to last long. We want to make sure that we don’t have to go back every 10 years, when you don’t have a president like me that’s not going to do it,’ the president said.
Alluding to the US’s repeated interventions in Iran over the past few decades, Trump added: ‘I don’t want people to have to go back in five years and have to do the same thing again or worse let them have a nuclear weapon.’
ABC News asked Trump if he would consider approving a successor with ties to the old regime, similarly to the way he approved Delcy Rodríguez as the acting president of Venezuela after Nicolas Maduro’s capture. Rodríguez was Maduro’s vice president.
Trump replied: ‘I would, in order to choose a good leader I would, yeah, I would. There are numerous people that could qualify.’
However, Trump had previously dismissed Mojtaba Khamenei as a ‘lightweight’.
‘They are wasting their time. Khamenei’s son is a lightweight. I have to be involved in the appointment,’ Trump told Axios last week.
‘Khamenei’s son is unacceptable to me. We want someone that will bring harmony and peace to Iran,’ Trump said.
32 people were injured in an Iranian attack on Bahrain’s island of Sitra as the war has entered second week
A smoke cloud erupts from the site of an Israeli airstrike on Beirut’s southern suburbs on March 9
Russia and China’s support comes as the war in the Middle East has entered its second week, as US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said Washington is ‘willing to go as far as we need to to be successful.’
Speaking on ’60 Minutes’ last night, the Secretary of War said America is going to ‘make sure that their nuclear ambitions are never achieved,’ when asked about the operation in Iran.
Commenting on Trump’s demand for ‘unconditional surrender’ from Iran, Hegseth said: ‘It means we’re fighting to win. It means we set the terms. We’ll know when they’re not capable of fighting. There’ll be a point where they’ll have no choice but to do that. Whether they know it or not, they will be combat-ineffective. They will surrender.’
The Defense Secretary noted that Trump will ultimately set the terms of Iran’s surrender.
‘Whether they want to admit it or not, whether their pride lets them say it out loud or not — it’s President Trump who will set the terms of that.’
However, Iran’s foreign ministry spokesperson downplayed the likelihood of a ceasefire as long as attacks continue, according to Iran’s Student News Network.
‘There is no point to talk about anything but defence and crushing retaliations against enemies,’ Esmaeil Baghaei said on Monday.
He reiterated that Tehran has no war to fight with its Muslim neighbours but must target ‘facilities used by aggressors’ for its legitimate defence.
Baghaei’s comments come as the Gulf states were severely targeted by Iran overnight, with Bahrain experiencing the highest number of casualties since the beginning of the war.
32 people were injured in an Iranian attack on Bahrain’s island of Sitra, the interior ministry said, after Bahrain’s Bapco oil refinery was hit by drones overnight.
Several explosions were also heard Monday in the Qatari capital Doha, as Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait all reported new attacks.
Iran also launched a fresh wave of attacks on Israel overnight, with one person killed by sharpnel and at least two seriously injured in the Yehud area, according to Israeli emergency services.
Paramedics were ‘searching a number of scenes and treating two unconscious males in serious condition’, the Magen David Adom emergency service said in a statement.
Meanwhile, Israeli airstrikes on Lebanon’s capital Beirut continue, as the Israeli military warned on Monday it would strike branches of Al-Qard al-Hassan, a Hezbollah-linked financial firm mainly operating in the group’s strongholds.
