The Russian foreign minister met with Iranian officials to discuss how Moscow can help end the conflict between Iran and the United States and Israel.
After signing a controversial diesel deal with Russia last week, President Donald Trump assured skeptics that the deal was in the national interest of the United States and would keep Russian President Vladimir Putin at “the bargaining table.”
Trump has sought to lay high diesel prices on the eve of November’s midterm elections at the feet of Ukraine’s successful strikes on Russian oil refineries, a vital financial lifeline for Putin’s war machine.
Trump’s diesel deal and his indefinite exemption of Russia from sanctions passed in the Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act of 2026 have faced scorn from across Capitol Hill, not just for the implications for allied Ukraine, but for the broader axis of aggressor nations like Iran and China.
To that, Trump wrote on Truth Social on Sunday: “Russia is doing very little, if anything, to help the Islamic Republic of Iran, compared to what they could be doing, and I want to keep it that way, and will, unless stupid people get in the way.”
Trump again denied any significant assistance given to Iran from Russia before he departed for a campaign event in Kansas on Monday. “Russia has done very little for Iran,” he told reporters.
But just hours before Trump’s White House South Lawn gaggle, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, one of Putin’s closest allies, landed in Tehran to meet with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and his Iranian counterpart, Abbas Araghchi, to discuss how Moscow could help end the conflict between Iran and the United States and Israel.
“I am confident that Iran’s cause, like Russia’s, is a just cause,” Lavrov said at a joint conference with Araghchi Monday. Pezeshkian thanked Lavrov for “support during the recent war,” according to Iran International, a London-based Persian news outlet and television network.
Monday’s meeting marks the first time Lavrov, Russia’s top diplomat since 2004, has visited Iran since the start of the US-Iran war earlier this year. In a press release announcing the meeting, the Russian foreign ministry decried the “illegitimate aggression of the United States and Israel against Iran.”
Putin’s own words in recent days undercut Trump’s assertion that Russia has been hands-off during the war.
“We know that Iran is making genuine efforts to bring an end to the conflict that is raging in the region through no fault of Iran,” Putin told Pezeshkian earlier this October in Turkmenistan, according to the Kremlin. “We are ready to do everything within our power to help you resolve this situation,” Putin said. Putin and Lavrov have also promised to advocate for the Islamic Republic in the halls of the United Nations.
The Kremlin isn’t just providing diplomatic cover. Since the beginning of Operation Epic Fury, Western officials have said Russia has provided Iran satellite imagery to conduct attacks on U.S. bases in the region and advanced drone technology to improve the IRGC’s effective unmanned drone, the Shahed.
In July, Ukrainian forces struck two cargo ships in the Caspian Sea that were purportedly “used in military cargo shipments involving Iran,” according to Zelensky. Russia has even offered to take possession of Iran’s highly enriched uranium.
The support is not one-sided. Iran supplied Russia with Shahed drones that Moscow subsequently adapted for its land war in Ukraine. Russia and Iran have expanded military and intelligence cooperation since Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
Three days before Trump was sworn in for a second term in January 2025, Putin and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian signed the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership Treaty, a landmark agreement strengthening trade, defense, and energy ties.
Lavrov’s arrival in Tehran came after a stop in Bahrain, where the diplomat met with high-ranking officials from the Arabian Peninsula. The meeting comes as tensions flare between the Houthis and Yemeni government forces backed by Saudi Arabia.
On Monday, the Houthis launched a deadly assault on a Yemeni government training camp, killing 53 and injuring over 200. For weeks, Houthi drones and missiles have rained down on Saudi Arabia, killing twelve in an attack on King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh, prompting officials to postpone the “Davos in the Desert” conference.
Lavrov previously called Houthi engagement with Saudi Arabia “fruitful” and opposed U.S.-backed strikes against the Iran-proxy group known for menacing international shipping in the Red Sea. The Wall Street Journal reported in 2024 that Russia shared satellite imagery with the Houthis for its attacks.
Despite Trump’s occasional reassurances that Russia is a great power conveniently uninterested in the Middle East, Russia remains committed to projecting influence and assisting allies in the region.
“Despite the difficult situation that has already been mentioned more than once,” Lavrov said during his Tehran visit, according to Russian state media, “Russia does not intend to abandon its agreements with Iran in the economic and investment spheres.”