TEHRAN – The spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Iran has emphasized the strategic nature of relations between Iran and Russia, saying Tehran will not allow anything to disrupt these relations.In an interview with the Russian news agency RIA Novosti, Saeed Khatibzadeh stated that NATO expansion and the West's disregard for Russia's security concerns are the reasons for the current Ukraine crisis and that “NATO should know that there is no happy ending for the path of confrontation.”Khatibzadeh stressed the continuation of Iran's efforts to broker peace between Moscow and Kiev.

“We think that the root of everything we see today is NATO expansion or ignoring the facts of Europe as well as the Western countries' disregard for the political and security considerations of a number of countries, especially Russia, and the agreements that were finalized a decade ago,” he said, according to Fars News. “Iran intends to launch a new round of mediation efforts between Russia and Ukraine,” the spokesman said of Iran's efforts to bring about peace between Russia and Ukraine. On relations between the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Russian Federation, he said, “Relations between Tehran and Moscow are a strategic one and we will not allow anything to disrupt them.”