Published on March 26, 2026 at 8:40 PM | Updated on March 26, 2026 at 8:57 PM
In the Middle East and Ukraine, Moscow’s stance towards France and the European Union… The Russian foreign minister answered questions from Léa Salamé on Thursday in the 8 PM news on France 2.
Léa Salamé, presenter of “20 Heures” on France 2: Before discussing the situation in Ukraine, a question about the war in the Middle East. The Israeli-American offensive against Iran has been going on for twenty-seven days now. We haven’t heard much defense of your Iranian ally, at least not with strong support. Why is that?
Sergei Lavrov, Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs: It’s not about defending Iran, which is our strategic partner and ally. First and foremost, we have defended international law. I believe that the French, who have historically always said they support international law, also support this international law. There’s no need to see it, it’s happening every day in real-time. The American president says he is not interested in international law, that he will be guided by his own moral principles or instincts. I think this is something that cannot be approved.
Furthermore, we have sent signals to the United States several times. We have said that a dialogue must be established to resolve all the problems in the Persian Gulf, and in the Middle East region in general. Every time the United States and their allies intervene in the processes taking place down there, the situation becomes more and more complicated. Iraq has been destroyed, Syria has been destroyed, the same goes for Libya, it has been destroyed. We don’t even know when the Libyan state will be restored. The same thing is happening now with the Islamic Republic of Iran. This attack is happening for the second time during negotiations, it raises questions. We have questions to ask the participants in the talks, especially the Americans, who have led this diplomatic and political process.
When members of the United States administration show bravery, even pride, speaking of these assassinations, especially the cold-blooded murder of the Supreme Leader or other high-ranking Iranian officials, I think it can only be described as cynicism. We advocate for the defense of Iran’s interests and those of all countries in the region, including our closest strategic partners in the Gulf Cooperation Council. Yes, they are suffering from this attack triggered by the United States and Israel.
You know, lately our Arab friends say there are two wars. One war is the United States and Israel’s war against Iran. They have nothing to do with this war. On the other hand, there is a second war that was not provoked, as they say. It is Iran’s attack on various sites in the Gulf monarchies. In fact, it’s a logic that I find hard to share, because we need to address the root causes of this conflict and this root cause is the key to settlement. The root cause is this unprovoked aggression by Israel and the United States against Iran. It’s no coincidence that the UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, in his speech yesterday, I believe, called on the United States and Israel to stop hostilities and then asked Iran not to attack the territories of other countries.
Léa Salamé, presenter of “20 Heures” on France 2: I understand, but American intelligence services say that you are helping the Iranians locate targets, locate American bases. Is that true? How far does your support for Iran go? Is Russia supplying weapons to Iran at this moment, as we speak? Are you telling us, ‘Yes, we are providing arms for self-defense’?
Sergei Lavrov, Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs: You are a very talented journalist because you first asked, ‘Is it true that we are helping Iran?’ And then, without waiting for my answer, you said, ‘How far will this help go?’ You know, President Putin has already answered this question. His spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, has already spoken on this topic that is now being debated in the media. There is talk of intelligence that Russia may have passed on to Iran. But we have already said that we have close relations with Iran. We have an agreement on military and technical cooperation. We have delivered certain military items to Iran, but we cannot agree with the accusation that we are helping Iran, that we are passing on intelligence.
So you talked about the location of American bases. The coordinates of American bases in the regions, that is something that is not hidden, it was information known to all, it is open information. And the fact that Iran is attacking these military bases, in fact, does not surprise me. Yes, we paid attention to the fact that our friends in the Gulf Cooperation Council – when it was clear that war was looming – tried to persuade the United States not to embark on this adventure. They said they would not open their airspace for these attacks and would not allow the use of American bases on their territory to attack Iran.
So I think those who are familiar with military affairs understand very well that these American bases have been used to gather intelligence. And the fact that these bases are now being attacked from time to time, these are the consequences of this adventure that was launched without any reason. Moreover, it must be said that the Americans have withdrawn a large number of military personnel from these bases, given that they were aware of what was going to happen. And so they started this aggression and dealt a severe blow to their Arab allies.
