Khamenei: Were it not for Russia, NATO would've ignited war

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Iran’s leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said in a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin that long-term Iranian-Russian cooperation is greatly in the interest of both countries.

He highlighted that Iran is not happy with what is happening to ordinary people during the war, but in the case of Ukraine, "If you had not taken the initiative, the other side (West) would have caused a war on its own initiative," he told Putin.

Furthermore, Khamenei noted that "if the road is open to NATO, it knows no boundaries, and if it was not stopped in Ukraine, they would start the same war sometime later under the pretext of Crimea."

Iran’s leader highlighted that Western countries, especially the US, have become weaker. Despite their efforts and spending, "the success of their policies in our region, including in Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, and Palestine, has greatly diminished." Khamenei insisted that it is necessary to address the "US' occupation of agricultural and oil regions in Syria by expelling them from there.

When discussing Russia, Khamenei stated that today, in the era of President Putin, Russia "maintained its independence." He condemned "the interference of the Zionist regime in the affairs of the region and praised the recent positions of the Russian President against the Zionists," adding that one of the reasons for the collapse of the Soviet Union was falling into the trap of deceiving US policies.

Iran's leader concluded by stating that "the US dollar must be gradually taken off global trade and this can be done gradually."

In response, Putin listed "the assassination of General Soleimani as another example of the evils of the Americans," and in another part of his speech, he referred to the Western sanctions against Russia saying that they are detrimental to the West and have resulted in problems such as the increase in oil prices and the food supply crisis.

Referring to the US's misuse of the dollar as a tool for embargoes and the looting of other countries, President Putin, considered this was "detrimental and eventually weakened global trust in this currency" and pushed other countries to use alternative currencies.

"Russia and Iran are designing new methods for using national currencies in the relations between the two countries," he said.

Following this discussion, President Putin and Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi joined Turkish President Recep Tayyib Erdogan in Tehran to begin the Astana process summit.

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