The head of Russia’s Security Council arrived in Tehran on Tuesday night on an official visit, fueling speculation in Ukraine that Moscow is determined to acquire ballistic missiles from the ruling ayatollahs for its ongoing invasion of Ukraine.
Nikolai Patrushev — Secretary of the Security Council of the Russian Federation — is in Iran at the invitation of his counterpart in Tehran, Adm. Ali Shamkhani. Patrushev will hold talks with other “high-ranking officials” in addition to Shamkhani, according to Nour News, one of several news agencies operated by the Iranian regime.
A separate report from Russia’s TASS News Agency disclosed that the discussions between Russia and Iran focused on “information security, as well as measures to counter interference in the internal affairs of both countries by Western special services.” That latter theme was emphasized by Patrushev, who told journalists on arrival that since the Russian invasion of Ukraine at the end of February, “the Western media empire made extensive efforts through distorting realities to deviate the world’s public opinion about how the crisis had started and about truths on the ground.”
For his part, Shamkhani made no mention of Iran’s supply of Shahed-136, Arash-2 and other drones to the Russian armed forces, commenting merely that “Iran welcomes and backs any initiative that leads to a ceasefire and peace between Russia and Ukraine based on dialogue, and is ready to play a role in ending the war.”
