When the Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi arrived in Moscow to coordinate Tehran’s response to the massive US strikes on nuclear facilities, he met not with his opposite number, Sergei Lavrov, but Vladimir Putin himself. That, in itself, speaks volumes about how wide-ranging the repercussions of Donald Trump’s military intervention might be.
The dramatic escalation and direct involvement of America in Iran, coupled with the ongoing conflict between Iran and Israel, and Trump talking openly of regime change, puts the Russian leader in a difficult position. He was compelled to condemn the US bombing raid, as his own ordnance was falling on civilian targets in Ukraine. Whatever requests Araghchi makes of Moscow, it will have multiple competing interests and moves to consider before committing to anything beyond rhetoric.
