Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian told a senior ally of Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin on Monday that Tehran was determined to expand relations with its "strategic partner Russia", Iranian state media reported.
Sergei Shoigu, the secretary of Russia's security council, met Iran's president and top security officials as the Islamic Republic weighs its response to the killing of a Hamas leader.
"Russia is among the countries that have stood by the Iranian nation during difficult times," Pezeshkian told Shoigu in a meeting, Iranian state media reported.
The president said that shared positions between Iran and Russia "in promoting a multipolar world will certainly lead to greater global security and peace".
Russia has condemned the killing of Ismail Haniyeh, leader of the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, in Iran last week and called on all parties to refrain from steps that could tip the Middle East into a wider regional war.
In further comments reported during the meeting with Shoigu, Pezeshkian said Israel's "criminal actions" in Gaza and the assassination of Haniyeh "are clear examples of the violation of all international laws and regulations".
