NATO would begin a war with Russia under the pretext of Crimea, but the Alliance’s attempt was prevented by the Russian military operation in Ukraine, says the spiritual leader of Iran Ali Khamenei.
In his opinion, the West does not want to see Russia strong, and the North Atlantic Alliance is a dangerous organization. “If you had not opposed NATO in Ukraine, the Alliance himself would have started a war under the pretext of Crimea,” he said at a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Hamens believes that “today America and the West have become weaker than before,” and, despite efforts and a lot of money, “their policy in Syria, Iraq, Lebanon and Palestine has become less successful than it was before. He stated that Moscow and Tehran need to develop economic cooperation that would meet the interests of both countries, “especially in Western sanctions,” reports Mehr.
The head of the Iranian Foreign Ministry Hossain Amir Abdollahian in February stated that the fighting in Ukraine was caused by “NATO provocations”, and called for a peaceful resolution of the conflict. Later, Iranian president Ibrahim Raisi expressed his willingness to help in settlement.
The Russian authorities have repeatedly expressed the opinion that Ukraine’s entry into NATO would create a threat to the Russian military conflict with an alliance because of Crimea. In February, even before the start of hostilities in Ukraine, Putin said that Kyiv, if the alliance joined the Alliance, will decide to return the peninsula by military means, “which means that a military confrontation between Russia and NATO will arise.”
The deputy chairman of the Council of People’s Commissars Dmitry Medvedev, for his part, believes that due to the “unresolved territorial disputes” between Moscow and Kyiv, including the belonging of Crimea, Ukraine’s entry into NATO can lead to the third world war and the “total catastrophe” .