TEHRAN — Mohammad Jamshidi, an official at the president’s office in charge of political affairs, said on Friday that the Russians' security concerns about NATO military expansion are well understood.

However, he added that the solution to the problem is to have peaceful dialogue.

"What is happening in Ukraine is a geopolitical change that is happening in the country," Jamshidi said in reference to the Russian attack on Ukraine on Thursday morning after recognizing two separatist-held enclaves in Ukraine as independent breakaway republics on Monday. 

Jamshidi further explained that after World War II and the Cold War, NATO tried to confront the Soviet Union with the aim of creating military unity among Western countries centered on the United States, and after the collapse of the Soviet Union and the Warsaw pact, NATO continued its life, which is one of the main concerns of the Russian president.

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 in the interests of the people,” he said.

Referring to Thursday's phone conversation between the presidents of Iran and Russia, Jamshidi said that the focus of Ebrahim Raisi and Vladimir Putin's talks on Thursday were nuclear issues and following 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.”

The official at the presidential office described one of the issues raised by Putin in the conversation with Raisi as "developments in Eastern Europe and Ukraine" and explained the official position of the Islamic Republic in line with “maximum interaction” with all countries around 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.”

Emphasizing that Iran seeks maximum interaction with all countries of the world, he also noted that Iran is fully aware of the security and strategic developments that are taking place in the region and other parts of the world.

Pointing to the issues related to the South Caucasus which reached a critical stage, Jamshidi said they were managed with the active role of Iran and some other countries, and that the developments in Afghanistan have been a very important geopolitical development since the Raisi government took office.