The extent of Moscow’s support for Iran, though, is in dispute. Some Iranian sources have said that they have had little real help from Moscow in the biggest ​crisis for Iran since the US-backed Shah was toppled in ​the 1979 revolution.

Putin sent congratulations to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah ⁠Mojtaba Khamenei and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on the Iranian New Year, ​the Kremlin said.

“Vladimir Putin wished the Iranian people to overcome the harsh ​trials with dignity and stressed that in this difficult time Moscow remains a loyal friend and reliable partner of Tehran,” the Kremlin said.

Russia says the US and Israeli ​attacks on Iran have thrust the entire Middle East into the abyss ​and triggered a major global energy crisis, while Putin condemned the killing of the Iranian Supreme ‌Leader as a “cynical” murder.

Politico reported that Moscow proposed a quid pro quo to Washington: the Kremlin would stop sharing intelligence with Iran if Washington ceased supplying Ukraine with intelligence about Russia, but the United States ​rejected the idea.

The ​Kremlin has ⁠dismissed the report as fake.

Russia was deprived of an ally when the United States toppled Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro, ​though Moscow has benefited from the high oil prices ​triggered ⁠by the US and Israeli attacks on Iran, a strategic partner.

The published strategic partnership does not contain a mutual defence clause, and Russia has repeatedly ⁠said that ​it does not want Iran to develop ​an atomic bomb, a step that Moscow fears would trigger a nuclear arms race across ​the Middle East.