TEHRAN — President Vladimir Putin received Ali Larijani, the Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, for a high-stakes summit at the Kremlin on Friday.

Iranian Ambassador to Moscow Kazem Jalali confirmed the meeting took place Friday evening, stating that the “main core of the conversations revolved around expanding relations between the two nations, particularly in the economic sphere.”

Beyond the bilateral framework, the two politicians engaged in “thorough consultations on vital regional and global issues,” ensuring a synchronized response to the evolving geopolitical landscape.

The summit followed the volatile security environment created by U.S. President Donald Trump’s renewed threats of military action against the Islamic Republic and the U.S. military’s military buildup in the Middle East.

The Kremlin has advocated for diplomatic solutions rooted in the absolute respect for Iranian sovereignty, viewing Tehran’s stability as a cornerstone of regional peace.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov issued a sharp warning on January 26, stating that any military strike against the Islamic Republic would result in a “serious destabilization” of the Middle East.

Peskov characterized the prospect of an attack as “another step toward serious destabilization of the situation in the region,” stressing that Moscow expects all international parties to show restraint and resolve differences exclusively through “peaceful negotiations.”

This stance builds on earlier statements from the Russian Foreign Ministry after the recent wave of unrest in Iran, which condemned “subversive external interference” in Iranian internal affairs and labeled threats of military force as “categorically unacceptable.”