Tehran, June 22 (IANS) Hours after the US struck Iranian nuclear facilities early on Sunday, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said he is scheduled to visit Russia for “serious consultations”, and is also likely to hold talks with President Vladimir Putin.

Addressing a press conference in Istanbul, Iran’s top diplomat announced that he is going to visit Moscow on Monday, Mehr News reported.

Araqchi said that he will have serious consultations with the Russian leadership in the wake of the series of Israeli and now US attacks on Iran.

Holding a meeting with Russia’s President is among his visit’s plans, he said.

Ahead of Araqhchi’s visit to Moscow, Iranian Ambassador to Russia Kazem Jalali said that Tehran and Moscow have always preserved the level of higher consultations on the regional and international developments.

In a post on his X account, Jalali wrote: “As Iran is grappling with a unjust war with the most vicious governments in all-time history of humanity”.

The Iranian diplomat revealed that Iran’s top diplomat will arrive in Moscow to hold high-profile talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

He emphasised that Iran and Russia have always maintained a level of higher consultations in the regional and international developments.

It is hoped that the ongoing negotiations between Iran and Russia would be constructive to help stabilise the current condition, Jalali underlined.

Russia on Sunday “strongly condemned” the “irresponsible” US follow-on strikes on nuclear sites in Iran as a “blatant violation of international law” by a permanent member of the UN Security Council, which will destabilise the region and deals a “substantial blow” to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) regime.

“They have significantly undermined both the credibility of the NPT and the integrity of the International Atomic Energy Agency’s (IAEA) monitoring and verification mechanisms that underpin it.”

“We expect the IAEA leadership to respond promptly, professionally, and transparently, avoiding vague language or efforts to hide behind political ‘equidistance.’ An unbiased and objective report from the Director General is required to be submitted for consideration at the Agency’s upcoming special session,” the Foreign Ministry said in a statement .

Moscow also demanded that the UN Security Council must take a firm stance as well and “confrontational and destabilising actions taken by the United States and Israel must be collectively rejected”.

It called “for an immediate end to aggression and for stepping up efforts to bring the situation back onto a peaceful, diplomatic track”.

–IANS

vd