On June 19, Ramzan Kadyrov, Head of Chechnya, accused Israel of provoking Iran under the guise of nuclear threats and condemned what he called decades of Zionist and Western aggression against the region.
In his statement on the ongoing Iranian-Israeli conflict, Kadyrov claimed that "feeling impunity for the genocide of the Palestinian people, the Zionists have now decided to provoke Iran." He criticized repeated claims by Israel and Western countries about Iran's alleged nuclear ambitions, remarking that for the past thirty years, it has always been said that Iran was "about to" develop nuclear weapons. "Thirty years ago, it was ‘about to’ and ‘on the verge’; twenty years ago, it was ‘about to’; ten years ago, it was also ‘about to’. Where is it? Probably in the same place as Iraq's nuclear weapons," Kadyrov stated, recalling how similar accusations led to Iraq’s devastation, the execution of Saddam Hussein, and the deaths of hundreds of thousands of civilians.
Kadyrov described Iran’s recent military response as "completely logical and tactically correct," noting that Tehran remains open to international inspections and continues to declare its nuclear program as peaceful. Despite this, he argued, "the Satanists are not satisfied with the fact that Iran, which has been under sanctions for more than 40 years, has its own independent energy production program."
He further condemned what he termed "Zionist terrorist operations" targeting Iranian military personnel and scientists, adding that after a decade of provocations, Iran was compelled to retaliate against Israel’s "satanic aggression." Kadyrov concluded by calling on the international community to address what he viewed as a more urgent issue: “How many nuclear warheads does Israel have, and why should its military nuclear program cause less concern than Iran's peaceful one?”