Russian strongman Vladimir Putin welcomed the head of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, Mohsen Rezaei, to the Kremlin on Thursday, receiving a message allegedly from missing “supreme leader” Mojtaba Khamenei.
Both Iranian state media and the Kremlin news service confirmed the meeting and delivery of the message, but neither offered any details about the secret message. The Kremlin shared the general topics discussed between Rezaei and Putin, but did not offer any specifics or any indication that the Russian leader was offering Iran material support outside of its usual friendly diplomatic and economic relations with Tehran.
A report following the meeting did claim that the Russians had agreed to help resupply Iran with missile launchers, which the country is reportedly in need of after the United States reportedly carried out airstrikes against missile infrastructure on Iran’s Qeshm island this week. Those reports claimed that the missile launchers had already been promised in a years-old bilateral agreement and simply recently delivered rather than constituting an entirely new agreement to send military equipment to Iran.
The state-run Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) reported that Rezaei had held a phone conversation with Putin before arriving in Moscow this week in which he “emphasized the importance of continued strategic cooperation between Iran and Russia.”
He later allegedly delivered a letter by “Mojtaba Khamenei” to Putin. Khamenei is the son of Ali Khamenei, the former longtime dictator of Iran who was eliminated in an American airstrike in the beginning of Operation Epic Fury in February. The younger Khamenei was swiftly declared the new “supreme leader” but has not been seen in public since, nor has he issued any video or audio messages or been seen in recent photos, leading observers to question whether he is truly in command of the country.
The Kremlin readout of the meeting between Putin and Rezaei closely resembled the IRNA coverage of the event, adding some information about the topics of conversation.
“The discussion focused on the current state of bilateral relations and their development outlook in accordance with the Treaty on Comprehensive Strategic Partnership between Russia and Iran,” the Kremlin shared, “as well as issues on the international and regional agenda, specifically the situation in the Gulf region and the Middle East as a whole.”
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