Iranian president voices full support for Russia's national sovereignty: Official

Iranian President Seyyed Ebrahim Raeisi has expressed the Islamic Republic's support for Russia's national sovereignty following the aborted mutiny by the paramilitary Wagner group, according to a senior government official in Tehran.

In a Monday phone conversation, President Raeisi and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, discussed the Friday mutiny by Yevgeny Prigozhin and his Wagner group, Mohammad Jamshidi, the Iranian President's Deputy Chief of Staff for Political Affairs, said in a post on Twitter.

According to Press TV, the Kremlin also confirmed the phone call between Raeisi and Putin and said, "The Iranian president expressed full support for the Russian leadership in connection with the June 24 events."

The mutiny started over differences between Prigozhin and Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu. 

The Wagner chief had accused Russia’s military top brass of ordering a rocket attack on the group's field camps in Ukraine -- where Russia has been leading a military operation -- killing "huge numbers” of his paramilitary forces. Authorities in Moscow strongly rejected his claim.

Following negotiations with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko aimed at deescalating the situation, the leader of Wagner paramilitary forces ordered his fighters on Saturday to turn around from their march towards Moscow to avoid bloodshed.

According to Jamshidi, Putin briefed Raeisi on the recent developments in his country and emphasized that the events failed to challenge Russia's national sovereignty.

In a phone conversation with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov on Saturday, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian rejected any foreign interference in the domestic affairs of countries.

Amir-Abdollahian said the events in Russia were of an "absolutely domestic nature" and added that Iran supports the rule of law in all countries, including in the "neighboring and friendly country of Russia."

ME