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Reuters – June 22, 2025

A senior Russian official said on Sunday that U.S. President Donald Trump had started a new war by attacking Iran that would only strengthen Tehran’s leaders by consolidating society around Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.

The Kremlin, which has a strategic partnership with Iran and also maintains close links to Israel, had repeatedly cautioned Washington that U.S. strikes on Iran would plunge the entire region into the “abyss”.

“Trump, who came in as a peacemaker president, has started a new war for the U.S.,” said Dmitry Medvedev, the deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council, adding that “with this kind of success, Trump won’t win the Nobel Peace Prize”.

“Iran’s political regime has been preserved, and it is highly likely that it has become stronger,” Medvedev said. “The people are consolidating around the spiritual leadership, even those who did not sympathise with it.”

Medvedev also said that Iran’s nuclear infrastructure did not appear to be affected by the U.S. strikes, and that the U.S. was in danger of being drawn into a ground operation.

President Vladimir Putin had repeatedly offered to mediate between the United States and Iran, though the Kremlin chief last week refused to discuss the possibility that Israel and the United States would kill Khamenei.

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