LONDON, November 21. /TASS/. Russia provided huge support to Iran during the military conflict with Israel in June, and defense cooperation between Moscow and Tehran was boosted by that, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told The Economist in an interview.
"The Russians helped us a lot during the 12-day war, and after that we have been engaged in more cooperation than before, and this is why I am telling you that we are even more prepared [for a potential conflict] than the previous war," he said.
When asked to explain what he meant by "even more prepared," the top Iranian diplomat replied: "Our missiles are in a better position, quantity-wise and quality-wise. We have learned many lessons during the 12-day war. We understood our weak points and our points of strength, and the Israelis’ weak points. We have worked on all of them and we are fully prepared even better than the previous time."
"It doesn’t mean that we want war. As you know, the best way to prevent a war is to be prepared for that," he said.
Speaking about cooperation with Moscow, the foreign minister said "military co-operation between Iran and Russia is not something new."
"It goes back many years. And the purpose of our military co-operation was only for our defensive purposes. And that has been our position from the beginning," he said.
Araghchi added that West’s actions spurred Iran to cooperate even more actively with Russia and China.
"It was the Western countries who actually made us understand that China and Russia are better friends than them," he said.