Russia says US attacked Iran on false pretext, condemns call for Iranians to seize power

It said the US had used negotiations with Iran as a cover to disguise a plan for regime change there. Read more at straitstimes.com.

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MOSCOW – Russia accused the US on March 4 of using an imaginary threat from Iran as a pretext to overthrow its constitutional order, and said Washington’s calls for Iranians to seize power from their leaders were cynical and inhumane.

Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said the US had used negotiations with Iran, which were taking place as recently as last week, as a cover to disguise a plan for regime change there.

Russia has a strategic partnership treaty with Iran, and President Vladimir Putin has condemned what he called the cynical murder of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed on the first day of the war launched by the US and Israel on Feb 28.

“There is no doubt that the imaginary, invented Iranian threat, repeatedly stated over many years, was merely a pretext for the implementation of a long-cherished plan to violently overthrow the constitutional order of a sovereign state... that Washington and Tel Aviv dislike,” Ms Zakharova told reporters.

Without mentioning US President Donald Trump by name, Ms Zakharova alluded to his call for Iranians to take power from the clerical leadership.