MOSCOW, April 27 (Reuters) – Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday praised the Iranian people for battling to stay independent in the face of U.S. and Israeli pressure and said Moscow would do all it could to help Tehran. Russia has offered to mediate to try to help restore calm to the Middle East following U.S. and Israeli strikes, which Moscow has strongly condemned. It has also repeatedly offered to store Iran’s enriched uranium as a way of defusing tensions, a proposal spurned by the United States. “We see how courageously and heroically the Iranian people are fighting for their independence and sovereignty,” Putin told Araqchi, saying he hoped they could get through what he called a “difficult period” and that peace would prevail. “For our part, we will do everything that serves your interests and the interests of all the peoples of the region to ensure that peace is achieved as quickly as possible,” said Putin. Putin received Araqchi in the presidential library in Russia’s former imperial capital St Petersburg as sources from mediator Pakistan said work had not halted to bridge gaps between the United States and Iran. Putin said he received a message from Iran’s new Supreme Leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, last week, and asked Araqchi to convey to him that Russia intended to continue its strategic partnership with Tehran. That 20-year agreement was sealed last year. Russia is building two new nuclear units at Bushehr – the site of Iran’s only nuclear power plant – and Iran has supplied Russia with Shahed drones for use against Ukraine, the production of which Moscow has since localised. Araqchi, who said he wanted to brief Putin on the situation around his country, thanked Putin for Moscow’s support. “It has also been proven to all that Iran has friends and allies, such as the Russian Federation, who stand by Iran precisely in difficult times,” he said. Dmitry Peskov, Putin’s spokesman, said that Moscow wanted to see the U.S. and Iran continue negotiations. There should be no return to military action, he added, something he said was not in anyone’s interests.
(Reporting by Reuters, Writing by Andrew Osborn and Anna Peverieri; Editing by Alison Williams)
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