The strikes on Iran by Israel and the U.S. provoked a critical but very restrained response from the Kremlin. On June 23, Vladimir Putin said the attack was “unjustifiable and inexcusable,” but his criticism of both the U.S. and Israel was very cautious, and it appears that Russia’s support for Iran won’t go beyond those words. This is not surprising: as documents from the FSB’s counterintelligence service obtained by The Insider show, despite the apparent rapprochement with Tehran, relations between Russia and Iran are fraught with mutual distrust, and both countries continue to actively spy on one another. Sources in the Russian intelligence services maintain that, despite the rapprochement, Russia still views Iran more as an enemy than an ally and does not want to allow Tehran to acquire nuclear weapons.
Continue reading: A dozen knives in the back of the Islamic revolution: Secret FSB documents confirm Iran and Russia are waging a spy war against each other
