On Friday, U.S. President Donald Trump speculated that Russian President Vladimir Putin might be helping Iran “a bit.”
“I guess, and he probably thinks we’re helping Ukraine, right?” said Trump, in reference to aid to Kyiv to defend against Moscow’s all-out invasion.
Iran and Russia have strengthened ties over the past decade in response to U.S. opposition. Iran has been supplying Russia with its domestically designed Shahed drones, which Moscow uses to wage its war in Ukraine, going so far as to set up factories in Russia. The two countries also threw their support behind the now-defunct regime of Bashar al-Assad in Syria.
In 2021, Iran signed a 25-year economic cooperation agreement with Beijing, centering on the sale Iran’s rich oil reserves to supply China.
Araghchi in Saturday’s interview also addressed the turmoil in the key waterway of the Strait of Hormuz, which passes by the coasts of Iran and Oman, and which is a passage for one-fifth of the world’s oil and gas. Tensions in the Strait have propelled the cost of oil to above $100 a barrel and are threatening economic dislocation worldwide.
Araghchi said that the Strait was closed to tankers and ships belonging to “our enemies, to those who are attacking us and their allies.” Iran has been lobbing missiles at Persian Gulf countries, which are major suppliers on global hydrocarbon markets.
But, he added: “The Strait is not closed. It is only closed to American, Israeli ships and tankers, and not to to others.”