ASTANA, April 27, 2024 (BSS/TASS) - The terrorist attacks in Russia and Iran have stemmed from the support of terrorist groups by the United States and other Western countries, Iranian Defense Minister Mohammad Reza Ashtiani said at a meeting with his Russian counterpart Sergey Shoigu in Astana.

"The terrorist attacks in Russia and Iran are the result of support for terrorist groups by Western countries, especially by the United States," Ashtiani said, as quoted by the Iranian news agency Tasnim.

According to the news agency, when speaking about NATO eastward expansion, the Iranian defense minister emphasized that the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) member states should utilize the SCO potential in order to neutralize common threats.

On the evening of March 22, a terrorist attack targeted the Crocus City Hall music venue in Krasnogorsk, just outside the Moscow city limits. According to the latest data, 144 people were killed and 551 suffered injuries. Eleven people, including four gunmen, have been arrested in the case of the terrorist attack. The Russian Investigative Committee said that it had established the connection between the suspected terrorists and Ukrainian nationalists.

On January 3, 2024, the largest ever terrorist attack on Iranian soil occurred in the city of Kerman during a ceremony commemorating an anniversary of the death of General Qasem Soleimani, commander of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (an elite unit of the Iranian military). The death toll from the terrorist attack was 95.