Live UpdateFrom the Liveblog of Thursday, February 24, 2022

In phone call, Iran’s Raisi tells Putin that NATO expansion a ‘serious threat’

24 February 2022, 9:52 pm Edit

Russian President Vladimir Putin (left) and Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi talk to each other during their meeting in the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, on Wednesday, January 19, 2022. (Pavel Bednyakov/Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)

TEHRAN, Iran — Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi tells his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin that NATO expansion is a “serious threat,” hours after Russia launched an invasion of Ukraine.

“NATO expansion is a serious threat to the stability and security of independent countries in different regions,” Raisi says in a telephone call with Putin, according to the Iranian presidency.

Raisi expressed hope that “what was happening” would benefit “the nations and the region,” a statement adds. It doesn’t elaborate.