MOSCOW, July 13. /TASS/. Russian Ambassador in Tehran Levan Dzhagaryan on Wednesday said Moscow sees Iran’s position on Ukraine and the Russian special military operation as balanced and acceptable for Russia.

"From the very start, the leadership of Iran took a very balanced position regarding the situation in Ukraine and the Russian special military operation," he said on Rossiya-24 television. "It is clear that Iran is opposed to the war, which causes many miseries for the civilian population. At the same time, the country's leadership is well aware, understands very well - and they have repeatedly spoken about this publicly - why Russia was forced to take these measures, which is due to disregard of Russia’s legitimate interests, disregard of our concerns with respect to NATO expansion to the east, with respect to the subversive activities of Western countries".

The ambassador said Iran had been under sanctions for more than 40 years, so it understands perfectly well what the current situation means for Russia. "Therefore, it stands for a peaceful settlement of the situation, for negotiations. Iran's position is balanced and quite acceptable for our country," Dzhagaryan said.

On February 24, Putin announced a special military operation in response to a request for help by the heads of the Donbass republics. He stressed that Moscow had no plans of occupying Ukrainian territories, but aims to demilitarize and de-Nazify the country. The West retaliated to the Russian decision by imposing sweeping sanctions on the country. Also, Western countries started shipments of weapons to Kiev, which by now are worth billions of dollars. Some Western politicians have described the situation as an economic war on Russia.