Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that Iranian society was consolidating around the country's leadership, adding Iran's underground uranium enrichment facilities were still intact despite unprecedented Israeli strikes.
Putin was speaking on Wednesday as Trump kept the world guessing whether the US would join Israel's bombardment of Iranian “nuclear and missile sites” and as residents of Iran's capital streamed out of the city on the sixth day of the air assault.
Putin said all sides should look for ways to end hostilities in a way that ensured both Iran's right to peaceful nuclear power and Israel's right to the unconditional security of the country.
Asked about Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's remarks that government overthrow in Iran could be the result of Israel's military attacks and US President Donald Trump's demand for Iran's "unconditional surrender", Putin said that one should always look at whether or not the main aim was being achieved before starting something.
"We see that today in Iran, with all the complexity of the internal political processes taking place there...that there is a consolidation of society around the country's political leadership," Putin told senior news agency editors in the northern Russian city of St Petersburg.
Putin said he had personally been in touch with Trump and with Netanyahu, and that he had conveyed Moscow's ideas on resolving the conflict.
He said Iran's underground uranium enrichment facilities were still intact.
"These underground factories, they exist, nothing has happened to them," Putin said, adding that all sides should seek a resolution that ensured the interests of both Iran and Israel.
"It seems to me that it would be right for everyone to look for ways to end hostilities and find ways for all parties to this conflict to come to an agreement with each other," Putin said. "In my opinion, in general, such a solution can be found."
Iran not seeking Russian military support
Putin also said that Iran is not seeking military support from Moscow.
"Iran is not asking us for any military assistance," Putin said.
"Even when we offered to jointly develop air defense systems in the past, there was little interest from the Iranian side," he added.
Putin said there are options to ensure Iran's interests and alleviate concerns on the Israeli side and that these were presented to partners.
He also said that Russia and Iran signed a contract for the construction of two more new nuclear units at the Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant.
"The work is under way, our specialists are on site — over 200 people. We have agreed with the Israeli leadership that their safety will be ensured," he added.
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said on Wednesday that Moscow was telling the United States not to strike Iran because it would radically destabilise the Middle East.
A spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry also warned that Israeli strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities risked triggering a nuclear catastrophe.
