The brief uprising in Russia was followed closely in Iran.
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Iran, a key ally of Moscow, followed the crisis in Russia on Saturday with minute-by-minute coverage across its news media outlets. Many Iranians wondered how the armed uprising by the Wagner mercenary group and its abrupt end would affect their lives.
Iran’s president, Ebrahim Raisi, spoke on the phone with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, according to Iranian media.
“The recent events in Russia are an internal matter, and Iran supports the rule of law in Russia,” said the spokesman for the Foreign Ministry, Nasser Kanaani.
Iran’s news media called the uprising against the Kremlin an armed insurrection. Nour News, which is affiliated with Iran’s National Security Council, called it a Western-backed plot to defeat Russia in the war in Ukraine.
Iran’s state television aired a live report from Moscow with news that Wagner mercenaries, with mediation from Belarus, had halted their march toward the capital. An Iranian reporter with state television said that the situation in the areas around crucial sites, such as the Kremlin and the Foreign and Defense Ministries, appeared to be normal.
Iran and Russia have forged closer military, intelligence and economic ties in the past decade, with Iran shifting its policy away from the West and placing itself in the so-called eastern axis with Russia and China. Iran and Russia also partnered in Syria to fight opposition forces and the Islamic State terrorist group, helping to keep President Bashar al-Assad in power.
The Tehran-based political analyst Sasan Karimi said Russia was a very important ally for Iran.
“It wants Russia to be stable because an unstable, weak Russia will upend all of Iran’s policy calculations,” Mr. Karimi said.
For the Iranian government, which has faced sanctions, pressure from the West and a domestic uprising against its clerical rule, Russia provided a sense of security in the form of a powerful ally. Iran has also been providing Russia with drones to use in the war in Ukraine and some expertise for evading western sanctions.
For many Iranians opposed to their government, the Russian crisis was a reason to rejoice because Russia was seen as an enemy that has helped keep their oppressor in power.
Thousands of Iranians on Friday and Saturday tuned into Clubhouse, the popular town-hall-style app where analysts and journalists gave updates on the events in Russia.
“Putin is caught in a terrible predicament, and his allies will also suffer serious damages from this crisis,” wrote Ahmad Zeidabadi, a political analyst close to the reformist faction in Tehran, on Twitter and on Telegram.
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