Moscow Backs Tehran's Grip on Enriched Uranium, Dismisses UK Military Talk

Maria Zakharova, spokesperson for Russia's Foreign Ministry, told reporters Wednesday that only Iran gets to decide what happens to its enriched uranium. She called the material the property of the Islamic Republic of Iran and said its presence on Iranian soil does not breach Tehran's obligations under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

Zakharova also called the United Kingdom's talk of wanting more direct military-to-military contacts with Russia surprising. Addressing Europe broadly, she said Moscow has no intention of attacking the continent, is not interested in fueling militaristic hysteria, but will take growing external threats into account and act accordingly.

Tehran's own rhetoric is louder. Iran's National Security Council secretary, Mohsen Rezaei, told Lebanon's Al Mayadeen that his country would strike far-off American bases in nations it has not attacked before if the United States hits again, and would also target military bases in European countries that let their territory be used for US strikes. He said every atom of Iran's enriched uranium would stay under Tehran's control.

The same day, Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy claimed two oil tankers struck sea mines in the Strait of Hormuz while trying to sail unauthorized routes, alleging the ships were backed by US jets. The IRGC Navy called the incident another page in the black record of Admiral Brad Cooper, the US Central Command commander.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian dismissed the US military operation against his country as a disgrace in a post on X, pointing to what he described as a contradiction between Washington's stance on Iranian nuclear weapons and a February precision strike on a sports hall in the city of Lamerd. Iran's Foreign Ministry separately designated Argentina's Navy and Air Force as terrorist organizations, a move it framed as reciprocity after Argentina labeled the IRGC a terrorist group in April.