‘Rooted in NATO’: Iran responds to Russia’s Ukraine attack

TEHRAN – February 25 (ONLINE): While Iran says it is opposed to war in Ukraine, it will not outright denounce Russia’s military operation, instead blaming the West for NATO’s presence in the region.

Iran’s foreign minister, Hossein Amirabdollahian, said in his first reaction on Thursday following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine the crisis is “rooted in NATO’s provocations”.

He tweeted that Iran does not view war as a solution, and called for an immediate ceasefire and a “political and democratic solution” without using words such as “invasion” to describe the situation.

In a similar but slightly longer statement, Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh added that “the Eurasia region is on the verge of entering a pervasive crisis” because of NATO’s movements led by the United States.

It was in line with several other statements Iran’s foreign ministry issued during the past few weeks, while top officials such as President Ebrahim Raisi have refrained from commenting.

The reasons behind that approach can be traced to Iran’s ties with Russia during the past few decades, its increasingly strained relationship with the West, and developments across the Middle East.

The course of Iran-Russia relations in the past few decades shows a pattern of how Iran reacts to Russia’s military actions in its immediate neighbourhood, according to Hamidreza Azizi, visiting fellow at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs.

“Generally speaking, Iran never condemns Russia’s foreign aggressions, but at the same time, never recognises the territories Moscow brings under control either,” Azizi told Al Jazeera.