Vladimir Putin hosts Iran's foreign minister days after US strikes. Here's what he told him

Abbas Araqchi told Vladimir Putin that Iran was conducting legitimate self-defence.

Russia's President Vladimir Putin meets with Iranian foreign minister at the Kremlin in Moscow.(AFP)

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday hosted Iran's foreign minister, Abbas Araqchi, in Moscow and lambasted the US missile and bomb strikes on Iranian nuclear sites. 

The Russian president said there was no justification for the US bombing of Iran and that Moscow was committed to helping the Iranian people.

Putin told Abbas Araqchi in televised comments that the US aggression was unprovoked. "The absolutely unprovoked aggression against Iran has no basis and no justification," he said.

"For our part, we are making efforts to assist the Iranian people," he added.

"I am very glad that you are in Moscow today, this will give us the opportunity to discuss all these pressing issues and think together about how we could get out of today's situation," he added.

Araqchi told Putin that Iran was conducting legitimate self-defence. He thanked Russia for condemning the US actions. He added that Russia is on the right side of history.

"Russia is today on the right side of history and international law," said Araqchi.

The US attacked and destroyed three Iranian nuclear sites in a stealth attack using B-2 bombers and Tomahawk missiles. It called the attack successful, saying the US military obliterated Iran's nuclear ambitions.

Iran and Russia signed a strategic cooperation treaty in January this year. However, there was no mutual defence clause in it.  

Before Saturday's US strikes, Moscow had warned that US military intervention could destabilise the entire region and plunge it into the "abyss".

The Kremlin slams the US

The Kremlin today condemned the US strikes against Iran. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said US President Trump had not told Putin in detail about the planned strikes in advance. However, they discussed US involvement in the Israel-Iran war.

"There was no detailed information. The topic of Iran itself was repeatedly discussed by the presidents during their most recent conversations, certain proposals were voiced by Russia, but there was no direct detailed information about this," he said. 

With inputs from Reuters

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