Russian President Vladimir Putin condemns Ayatollah Khamenei’s ‘cynical murder’: Why is Iran important to Moscow?

In his first official comment on the US-Israeli coordinated strikes in Iran, Russian President Vladimir Putin called the targeted killing of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei a “cynical murder,” Russian state media agency TASS reported. Putin said Khamenei’s killing violated “all norms of human morality and international law.” On Saturday, the Russian foreign ministry had condemned the strikes, calling it “a preplanned and unprovoked act of armed aggression against a sovereign and independent U.N. member state.” The strikes happened a day after negotiations on Tehran’s nuclear enrichment capabilities fell apart in Geneva. Moscow and Tehran have long been allies and elevated their ties to a comprehensive strategic partnership in 2025. Among Moscow’s allies, Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro was captured in January, and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was ousted in December 2024. Khamenei’s death marks a major strategic setback for the Kremlin. ### Why is Iran important to Moscow? China is Tehran’s largest trading partner, purchasing more than 80% of Iran’s exported oil — the backbone of its economy. Bilateral trade between the two stood at $37 billion in 2022. By comparison, Iran’s trade with Russia peaked at about $5 billion the same year, as Moscow faced sweeping sanctions over the war in Ukraine. However, ties between Tehran and Moscow extend well beyond commerce. During Russia’s war in Ukraine, Iran provided crucial military support, supplying Moscow with Shahed drones — a series of economical ‘suicide drones’ with a range of up to 2,000 km. Tehran also helped Russia build a manufacturing facility to produce these drones. Being a part of the International North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC), Iran provides Moscow an essential transit for its goods through the Bandar Abbas and Chabahar ports. This helps Russia circumvent the risks of trading through the Mediterranean and Baltic regions amid the war with Ukraine and heightened tensions with Europe. ### Comprehensive Strategic Partnership Treaty In 2025, the countries signed the Iranian–Russian Treaty on Comprehensive Strategic Partnership. The twenty-year-long partnership agreement was signed after Tehran’s most valuable partner in the Levant, Syrian president Bashar al-Assad, was ousted, and its regional proxies Hamas and Hezbollah (part of its “axis of resistance” against Israel) were decimated. The document repeatedly referenced promoting a multipolar world order, and the countries agreed to closely coordinate their strategies and cooperate in international fora. They also agreed to further cooperate on defence, intelligence, and counterterrorism, as well as trade, energy, finance, and other economic areas. ### Iran-Russia nuclear cooperation The Bushehr nuclear power plant in Iran, the country’s only operational one, and was built with Russian assistance (construction began in the mid-1970s and began supplying electricity in 2011). The facility generates 1 GW of power. Iran has been building two more reactors at the site, with uranium produced in Russia. The site was among the few that weren’t targeted in Israeli-US strikes on nuclear facilities in June, last year. According to a Reuters report, more nuclear facilities are being built at the Bushehr site by Russia. Personnel of Russian state nuclear corporation Rosatom are still working at the site after the strikes on Saturday. ### How Russia backed Iran at global fora and vice-versa On June 12, 2025, the 35-member International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Board of Governors passed a resolution declaring Tehran in violation of its safeguards obligations. Among the three members who voted against the movement in the US-ally dominated board were Russia and China. India abstained from voting. In November, the IAEA passed a resolution that called on Iran to grant the UN nuclear watchdog access to information regarding its enrichment programme. Russia, again, opposed this resolution. The UN slapped sanctions on the back of these resolutions, triggering inflation and a cost of living crisis in Iran that later snowballed into the deadly anti-regime protests in January 2026. In March 2022, a few weeks after Russia launched a full-scale invasion in Ukraine, the United Nations passed a resolution rejecting the military campaign with an overwhelming majority of 141 against 5. Among the 35 countries to abstain from voting were Iran. ### The Islamic Republic’s fate After the joint attack, the Islamic Republic launched retaliatory drone and missile barrage on Tel Aviv and Washington’s allies in the Middle East – the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, Jordan, and Qatar – which house US military bases. Several world leaders condemned the Iranian attack, including Germany, France, and the UK whose heads issued a joint statement calling for a resumption of US-Iran negotiations. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres condemned the escalation in the region and called for an “immediate cessation of hostilities”. Ayatollah Arafi – who currently serves as deputy chairman of the Assembly of Experts, the body that appoints the Supreme Leader – has been named to lead Iran temporarily. Tehran has a long list of hardliners to replace its ‘martyred’ leaders, and before his passing, Khamenei had already named four layers of succession for military and government roles. According to an NYT report, Ali Larijani, the country’s top national security official and a former IRGC commander, has been effectively running the country.