Political assistant in the Iranian presidential office, Mohammad Jamshidi

The political assistant in the Iranian presidential office, Mohammad Jamshidi, confirmed that Russia's security concerns about NATO's military expansion are well understood, but believes that the solution to the problem is to have a peaceful dialogue.

"What is happening in Ukraine is a geopolitical change that is happening in the country," Jamshidi said in reference to the Russian operation on Ukraine on Thursday morning after recognizing two regions in Donbass as independent republics on Monday.

After World War II and the Cold War, NATO attempted to confront the Soviet Union to create military unity among Western countries centered on the United States, and after the Soviet Union's collapse and the Warsaw Pact, NATO continued to exist, which is one of Russian President Vladimir Putin's main concerns.

He added, “While NATO claims that it seeks the security of Western countries, it has expanded in different regions over the past 30 years, and contrary to its security commitments to Russia, it has developed 5 stages of military expansion in Europe and even in the Persian Gulf.”

NATO is looking for new partnerships, and today there is talk of a NATO presence in East Asia to contain China, he said.

“We have emphasized that the solution to this concern is through diplomacy and dialogue, and respecting the lives and property of civilians,” he said.

In reference to Thursday's phone conversation between the presidents of Iran and Russia, Jamshidi explained that the focus of Raisi and Putin's talks was nuclear issues and the implementation of bilateral agreements during Raisi’s visit to Moscow last month.

He added, “There are various talks between the Islamic Republic of Iran and different countries, such as the talks with the president of France that took place in recent days, and the talks with Putin were planned about 5 days ago, and those who are familiar with the diplomatic issues know that coordinating diplomatic talks, especially between presidents, is time-consuming and does not mean that the call will be made on the same day or at the same time.”

One of the topics mentioned by Putin in his talks with Raisi was "developments in Eastern Europe and Ukraine," according to a presidential official, who clarified the Islamic Republic's official policy as "maximum interaction" with all countries across the world.

Jamshidi added, “The government has been able to clearly show in the past 6 months that it has an interactive policy with all countries and the president has made four trips to foreign countries during this period, signing several agreements to strengthen the country's economic power and establish infrastructure ties between Iran and different countries.”

He also stated that Iran seeks maximum contact with all countries throughout the world, adding that the country is fully aware of security and strategic developments in the region and elsewhere in the world.

Jamshidi stated that the difficulties in the South Caucasus, which had reached a critical stage, were handled with the active participation of Iran and other nations, and that the developments in Afghanistan had been a very important geopolitical development since the Raisi government took office.