MOSCOW Sept 3, 2026 – Moscow has pushed back against a U.S. demand to halt support for Iran, saying it will continue and expand its “friendly and partnership relations” with Tehran.
The statement, circulating Thursday morning, comes a day after U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told Fox News that countries backing Iran should “stay away.” Bessent said the fastest way to end the six-month conflict is for no one to provide support to the Iranian government.
Bessent’s warning followed a high-profile meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit in Bishkek on September 1. There, Putin told his counterpart that Russia was supplying Iran with “necessary goods” and standing in solidarity with the Iranian people during what he called a “difficult period.”
Pezeshkian thanked Putin for Moscow’s stance “at every stage” of the fighting and sanctions campaign, describing the relationship as strategic rather than ordinary. He said the two countries could work together through the SCO and other groupings to counter what he called U.S. unilateralism.
The exchange highlights the limits of Washington’s pressure campaign. Russia and Iran signed a 20-year Comprehensive Strategic Partnership Treaty in January 2025 that covers trade, energy, transport and security cooperation but stops short of a mutual defense pact. Both countries remain under heavy Western sanctions and have expanded economic and logistical ties as a result.
The United States has been tightening what Bessent has described as an “economic D-Day” against Iran, targeting banks, airlines, maritime trade and digital assets under Operation Economic Outcast. Officials have also accused Moscow of providing intelligence that helped Iran strike U.S. assets in the region—claims the Kremlin has not confirmed.
A June ceasefire memorandum between Washington and Tehran collapsed after both sides accused the other of violations. Recent U.S. strikes on Iranian positions near the Strait of Hormuz and Iranian retaliatory attacks on American targets in Jordan have kept tensions high.
Russia has consistently called for a diplomatic settlement while refusing to abandon its partner. The latest statement makes clear that U.S. warnings have not changed that calculation.
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