Is Russia really the winner? Winning smile: Russia’s president Vladimir Putin (left) welcomes Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi to Moscow, 23 June 2025 Kremlin press service handout ·Anadolu · GettyWill Vladimir Putin be the real winner of Trump and Netanyahu’s war on Iran? Russia fears losing a strategic ally – its last in the Middle East after the fall of Syria’s Bashar al-Assad in December 2024. In a letter of condolence to Iran’s president, Putin described the Supreme Leader’s assassination as a ‘cynical violation of all norms of human morality and international law’ but refrained from naming a culprit. On 11 March Russia abstained from voting on a UN Security Council resolution that condemned Iran’s attacks on other Middle East countries ‘in the strongest terms’.

Source: Huffington Post March 31, 2026 07:03 UTC